With a new decade upon us, the relentless march towards using business impacting technology will continue. The primary drivers are consumerism, the urgency to improve Healthcare costs and quality, and survive as a Healthcare business. Healthcare possibilities in the new decade will accelerate the application of technology in the following areas:
- Applications of voice commerce applications will continue to move to mainstream workflows moving from EMR/EHR functions, such as, automated translation of voice recording directly into the systems without intermediate interventions. This will alleviate physicians and other users from the additional data entry workload for patient interactions.
- Streamlining of EMRs/EHRs and data interchange hubs for reduction of the need to massage interfaces for data interchange and improve data interchange quality and cost. Data interchange between organizations, such as Payors, CMS, Provider Networks, and others to receive and further analyse data for payments, or health management programs, is fraught with significant manual interventions, errors, and rework. In this decade, the standards will need to be further improved to align with business and consumer needs.
- Extended digitization of workflows and processes from front to back. Not only does rote work need to be automated, but cross-functional operations as well. Examples include, intensive application of AI and Machine Learning in Claims processing, Accounts Payable and Receivable, Utilization and Case Management, and Call Center operations. The digitization needs to be thought through holistically with back-end information from call centers, claims, and others, providing near real-time feedback to front and middle-end operations for improved processes, health management, and customer service.
- Further use of AI for improved associate training using process and customer feedback data. Organizations should develop and use continuous learning models and modes from operational and customer data to train the workforce.
- Enhancement of consumer omni-channel, provider networks, and partner personalization for healthcare wellness for disease prevention and management. This will aid in improved healthcare outcomes while reducing costs. AI/ML should be used as an enabler for integrating patient and provider/s ineractions to form a 360 loop between interaction, diagnosis, intervention, claims adjudication, health state identification, and wellness management.