Despite the impacts of Covid-19, the healthcare industry is growing at a rapid rate, with employment in healthcare occupations projected to grow 15 percent by 2029. One of the most impactful healthcare industry trends leading to this growth across various sectors is the global aging population, leading to greater demand for healthcare services.
Many sectors of the healthcare industry are expected to see rapid growth over the next five years due to emerging trends that are shaping the future. For example, one of the top healthcare industry trends currently is the emergence of telemedicine and the increase in virtual visits to the doctor’s office. A low doctor-patient ratio and high wait times have encouraged an increasing number of doctors to offer consultations using video-calling features of medical care applications. Through telemedicine, patients can pay doctors’ fees, as well as consult doctors, through live video calls, using these applications.
Despite the potential for future growth of numerous sectors, there are plenty of challenges ahead for the healthcare industry. One such emerging challenge across healthcare sectors is the rising operation cost and shortage of medical supplies. The coronavirus outbreak has heightened the use of PPE and additional safety protocols in physician offices. However, shortage of supplies are driving the costs for private physician practices at a time when revenues are not rising in the same proportion. The current situation is creating significant financial duress among private physician practices across the world. With supply chains disrupted and additional efforts required to ensure the safety of staff and patients.
In the following article, we will elaborate on some of the major trends and challenges expected to impact various sectors of the healthcare industry.
What is the healthcare industry?
Before we dive into the future trends and challenges of healthcare, it is important to define the industry. BizVibe’s platform contains nearly 250,000 healthcare companies which are segmented into 18 categories. Each of these categories belongs to one of four major healthcare sectors being the offices of physicians, health practitioners, offices of dentists, and general medical and surgical hospitals.
Each category is being transformed by its own set of trends and challenges that will greatly influence the direction of healthcare companies in the coming years. Below we will discuss the trends and challenges of categories across the major healthcare sectors.
Health Practioners – Physicians
Emerging Trend – The growing presence of portable diagnostic devices
The portable diagnostic devices have a touch screen and display system which allows a wide-angle view for easy operation, irrespective of the location in the body. The availability of low-cost, effective, reliable, and portable diagnostic devices is enhancing the patient care services in physician offices.
Major Challenge – Impact of coronavirus on healthcare
During the outbreak of COVID-19 in the first half of 2020, clinics were temporarily closed or had to reschedule a bulk of their appointments as patients preferred to stay at home. Availability of supplies also became an issue. Practices had to incur additional costs in making the facilities protected from coronavirus spread. Stockpiling behavior of pharmacies, export restrictions, restrictions around the movement of goods and personnel, and a sudden upsurge in demand for a few medicines has created enormous pressure on healthcare professionals to ensure equitable supply of critical medicines.
Health Practitioners (Exlcuding Physicians and Dentists)
Emerging Trend – Value-based delivery of health care
Healthcare systems in some countries have worked towards measuring the relative cost efficiency and comparative effectiveness of different medical interventions, known as value-based health care. The concept of value-based delivery of health care is more visible in high-income countries and works towards integrating the entire healthcare ecosystem based on the outcome of treatment rather than the volume of services offered at multiple stages. This model of health care delivery is expected to bring significant changes and transitions in the way health care is delivered.
Major Challenge – Changing regulatory and compliance requirements
The healthcare system across the world faces frequent changes in regulations or the introduction of new regulations that govern specific aspects of the ecosystem such as drugs, medical devices, payors, and medical professionals themselves. Regulatory changes in any of these components of the ecosystem have a direct bearing on the operations of health practitioners in terms of increased compliance cost, investment in new technology or resources, or significant changes in the business processes.
Health Practitioners – Dentists
Emerging Trend – Use of 3D printers for orthodontic/dental models
Dental clinics are using advanced 3D printers that can develop personalized orthodontic/dental models and dental appliances such as implants, dentures, and retainers accurately. This would help dentists in providing better services to customers and minimize costs.
Major Challenge – Cost of oral health consultations and procedures
The high cost of dental procedures and associated accessories are expected to increase the cost burden on patients, which is expected to restrain them from undergoing high-value procedures. The high cost of dental radiology, as well as dental products, further increases the burden on the patient’s wallet. New procedures are typically high cost and affordability becomes an issue in developing countries. The need for frequent follow-up visitations is another challenge that restrains patients from undergoing dental procedures.
Healthcare Industry Companies on BizVibe
BizVibe’s platform contains nearly 250,000 healthcare company profiles which are free to view. Each profile consists of in-depth company insights, comprising 50+ data points, including full industry trend and challenge analysis for 18 healthcare categories.
BizVibe company insights help provide answers to questions such as:
✓ How will industry challenges impact specific geographic regions?
✓ Which regions will emerging trends be the most prominent?
✓ What are a company’s major product and service offerings?
✓ Who are the company’s key executives and what are their roles?
✓ How is a company positioned financially?
✓ Who are the company’s major competitors?
✓ What is the risk level of doing business with a given company?
✓ What is the latest company news?
Additionally, BizVibe enables users to connect with healthcare companies and includes a feature that allows companies to send and respond to RFI/RFPs directly on the platform. There are healthcare profiles of companies from over 200 countries on BizVibe. Accessing these profiles to discover, analyze, and connect with healthcare companies is free to use.
