Healthcare Trends

The Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA) 2021 Luminary awards recognize 71 women in leadership, each with more than 20 years of professional experience. These distinguished women serve in a critical role within their organization, exhibit great leadership and actively mentor, sponsor and support the advancement of other women in their careers.

The COVID-19 vaccine approvals have given health systems (and payers) a glimmer of hope that the surge of acute patient COVID-19 admissions may be ebbing. As we anticipate a sense of normalcy, the shift for payer organizations will likely be toward planning our 2021 healthcare strategies.

It’s not entirely unexpected that communication may take a backseat to more pressing issues – such as serving the victims of the virus. COVID-19 has made things more difficult for all of us to work under a “normal course of business,” so it makes sense that health plans would be even more impacted. However, the issue may not be due to a lack of desire to communicate – but more, a lack of ability to communicate effectively.

Virtual care delivery offers much more than social distancing and convenience; it allows organizations to “meet the patient where they are” and overcome barriers to care such as lack of transportation and rural isolation.

From a technology perspective, the evolution of COVID-19 has turned out to be a sort of proving ground for the concepts discussed in those January focus groups. Rather than being pushed to the back burner, efforts to achieve connected care through data optimization are ever more critical.