Demand for Quality Care Fuels Healthcare Delivery Advances
- By Patrick M. Schmidt
HEALTHCARE DELIVERY continues to evolve as demand for care quality grows. For instance, gone are the days when patients unquestioningly follow their doctors’ care instructions, as “healthcare consumers” instead seek out the best treatment options catered to their individual needs; no longer are hospitals the only choice for acute care, with more patients opting for at-home treatment; and the challenges of caring for loved ones who live long distances away are not as formidable due to an expanding number of tools, services and resources.
Personalized care is being driven by healthcare consumerism, a movement that began in the 1930s and 1940s with a demand for universal healthcare coverage, but that has now transformed into a demand for a higher caliber of care. As we explain in our article “Meeting the Demand for Personalized Care,” this trend is being fueled by technology, genomics and tailored care plans known as “precision care” rather than a one-size-fits-all treatment. We provide some specific examples of how the healthcare industry is evolving to meet the demand for personalized care, as well as discuss the benefits for patients and the healthcare industry in terms of better outcomes and lowered costs.
While house calls were once a thing of the past, receiving care in the home is on the rise. In-home doctor visits are expected to quadruple by 2050 due to an aging population, but another trend being spurred by the older adult patient population is a model of home care known as hospital at home, or HaH. In our article “Hospital at Home: The Future of Care?” we explain how acute care at home started as a small pilot program in 1996 and then continued into a demonstration model in 2002, neither of which gave much steam to the HaH model. But, when the pandemic hit in 2020, the HaH model suddenly became necessary, made possible by telehealth and remote patient monitoring that allowed providers to manage patient care from a distance. We discuss how HaH works and its pros and cons. With so many people preferring to be treated at home versus in the hospital, as well as the fact that the home is a safer environment for most patients, HaH is likely here to stay.
Technology has also led to the ability to manage the care of aging family members who are often choosing to age at home rather than in assisted care facilities. Our article “Managing Care from Afar: The Challenges and Solutions of Long-Distance Health Management” looks at the unique challenges faced by long-distance caregivers and the many solutions now available, including assistive technologies, coordinated care networks and professional care managers — all of which help to keep families’ loved ones safe in the comfort of their own home.
On a final note, we are debuting a new column in this issue titled BioTech, which will feature technological tools to help you manage your healthcare facilities. We hope you will find it beneficial to your business endeavors.
As always, we hope you enjoy the additional articles in this issue of BioSupply Trends Quarterly, and find them both relevant and helpful to your practice.
Helping Healthcare Care,
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