Are Things Improving for Healthcare Heading Into the End of 2023

Earlier this year, Commerce Healthcare released a report, Healthcare Finance Trends for 2023: Multiple Intersecting Challenges. This report looks at what the main trends are affecting healthcare and health systems for the year. When this one was released, it summarized eight overall themes across four main areas which were:

• Financial outlook. Coming into 2023, health systems were facing a lot of financial headwinds and reports showed that most were in the red.
• Patient financial experience. The patients’ financial experience continues to play a growing role and improving it is critical.
• Trust. Building trust is a key to loyalty across all consumer groups.
• Digital transformation. Digital-first operations are growing across the entire enterprise, including financial operations.

In one spot in the report, the problem was summed up nicely, “these trends intersect in ways that compound both the challenges and the upside potential of strategies that address them.”

As we’ve talked to our own clients and prospects, we’ve found that their challenges and priorities are overlapping and intersecting in new ways. And they are changing what they expect from partners, as well as how they think about their goals.

So, we thought we’d sum up some of the changes we have seen and some of things we’ve noticed in the media and at recent events to show how the industry seems to be addressing these intersecting challenges.

1. We’re moving from not investing to investing thoughtfully. For the first half of 2023 it seemed like many health systems were holding on spending. Today, organizations seem to be investing again, but they are being very thoughtful. One study showed that organizations that invest in digital transformation often fare better than those that don’t when times are tough. Investments are now more strategic. The question is being asked, "will this help our organization reach its overall goals?"
2. CIOs are looking to reduce the number of solutions. There is a cost to having too many digital solutions. At an event back in the spring, one well-known CIO said he was looking to significantly reduce the overall number of solutions across the organization to make management easier.
3. Finding the right vendors is critical. We’re hearing that what health systems want are vendors who can work together to create more streamlined solutions. This is why Gozio launched its marketplace and is building more partnerships. It is all to be able to offer the best and most seamless consumer experience on mobile.
4. Technology can help build trust. Trust is impacted by issues like security and properly handling patient data. But it is also about listening to the needs of all the consumers a health system serves from patients to visitors to staff. All these consumers really want the same thing–an experience that mirrors what they can get in other areas of their lives. Health system leaders seems to be listening and investing in digital health solutions that can help achieve that.