Launch of Healthcare Practice & 2021 Healthcare Industry Trends

Change Logic Announces Launch of Healthcare Practice and Shares Insights Into 2021 Healthcare Industry Trends

Change Logic is pleased to announce that today, we are launching our healthcare innovation practice. Digital driven innovation has transformed other industries, and it has great potential to help healthcare systems deliver better care to more patients at lower costs. Yet, change in healthcare remains slow and complex, even with clear evidence that digital innovation can increase access, reduce cost, and improve patient quality of life.

Healthcare has been slow to adopt innovation in part because healthcare delivery is complex, and the impetus for change hasn’t been strong enough to align a diverse set of ecosystem stakeholders who each have different incentives. That changed in 2020, when the COVID-19 crisis created an urgent, ecosystem-wide need for change. Healthcare ecosystem players rapidly adapted, using innovative technology and approaches to stabilize systems in crisis, and to find new ways of delivering quality care in an uncertain situation.

Change Logic had the privilege of working side-by-side with a healthcare innovator that rapidly adapted its approach to address the COVID-19 crisis. SanusX, the innovation unit of Austrian insurer UNIQA, took a patient-centric approach to COVID-19 testing.

In less than a month, the team developed and launched the HealthShield app, a digital health tool that coordinates testing registration, sample collection, results delivery, and follow-up communication.

SanusX’s digitally driven approach to testing enables the nationwide testing service to conduct thousands of tests per day at a throughput that’s 10 times faster than standard testing providers, and patients receive results directly in the HealthShield app within 20 hours of their test.

SanusX is just one example of how the pandemic drove rapid innovation. While the COVID-19 crisis will subside, the unprecedented, large-scale innovation the pandemic drove in the healthcare industry will have a lasting impact into 2021 and beyond. As we wind down the strange year that was 2020, here are four leading healthcare industry trends we’re watching for next year:

Innovation Addresses Health Equity:

The COVID-19 pandemic brought health equity, one of the critical failings of many modern healthcare systems, into sharp focus. Innovative healthcare organizations were using technology, digital delivery models, and creative financial approaches to address health equity before the pandemic, and that trend has only accelerated with the crisis. CityBlock Health, a leading innovator in health equity, proved that its holistic, digitally driven care delivery model for low-income populations could adapt to the pandemic, and in doing so, attracted a $160M Series C investment that values the company at more than $1 billion.

What to watch for? Health equity will increasingly become a mainstream topic in the industry, and stakeholders across the healthcare ecosystem will dedicate more attention and investment to innovate approaches that create a more equitable healthcare system.

Telemedicine Goes Mainstream:

Telemedicine was hyped up for decades prior to the pandemic, but it was not widely adopted by providers and payors. COVID-19 helped telemedicine clear the adoption barriers it faced in the past, and telemedicine will remain valuable even as the healthcare system returns to face-to-face visits.

What to watch for? Telemedicine will become a standard care delivery channel, and that will clear the way for follow-on digital innovation, like remote diagnostics, preventive monitoring, and expanded patient data applications.

Consumerization Drives Change and New Entrants:

Patients, empowered by digital health tools, are becoming increasingly informed consumers who expect convenience, quality, and transparency from their healthcare providers. Healthcare players like OneMedical are creating innovative patient-centric offerings, and established consumer brands, like Walmart, who are used to delivering convenience and quality to consumers in other sectors are now making major investments in healthcare.

What to watch for? Established healthcare players will continue innovating to meet patients’ increasing expectations, and more non-traditional players like Walmart Healthcare will try to capture their share of the consumer-driven healthcare market.

Digital Health Devices Gain Momentum:

Patients’ desire to control their own health journey, the growth of aging populations, and increases in chronic disease incidence will continue to drive innovation in digital health solutions. Best Buy is an unexpected player to watch here – they’re leveraging the Geek Squad in-home technical service to bring health technology to older consumers, and making strategic investments in remote monitoring technology, connected medical devices, and call centers for patient engagement.

What to watch for? New offerings that leverage devices, apps, and personal care coordination to improve chronic disease management, and Best Buy leading the continued growth of technology solutions that enable consumers to safely age at home.

The pandemic created a healthcare crisis of unprecedented scale and severity.

One of the silver linings for the industry is that the rapid change sparked by COVID-19 has proven that digitally driven innovation can create immense value within the healthcare ecosystem.

Looking at 2021 and beyond, the healthcare ecosystem will continue to evolve as industry leaders turn their innovative focus from crisis management towards meeting the increasing demand for high-quality, patient-centric care at lower costs.

Interested in how you can drive innovation in your organization? Contact us to learn more about our approach to ideate, incubate, and scale new businesses.