What's Driving Sick Care ?

The transformation of sick care to health care continues its relentless march. The forces of innovation are not unique to the industry, but, rather pervasive in all industries.

One pundit sees the megatrends as:

Driving Force #1: The Talent Wars Will Heat Up

When polled, CEOs acknowledge their growth is now being impacted by not only uncertainty in the economy, but by workforce management challenges. The “War For Talent” will demand increased attention moving forward.

Note to sick care: Knowledge technicians are dead. How we teach medical professionals and how we define competencies should change. Try to hire a home health worker at a living wage. Or, how about a medical data scientist at anything you are willing to pay. I dare you.

Driving Force 2. Millennials are now the dominant generational cohort. Get ready for Generation Z.

Not only are they the majority generation (92 million members) in the workplace, Millennials are the driving demographic cohort in the marketplace, eclipsing Generation X and Boomers in buying power, economic influence, and political clout. The oldest Millennials are in their mid-30s and moving forward fast: getting married, starting families, founding startups, buying houses, investing for retirement, and paying off those burdensome student loans. Millennials are ethnically and racially diverse, open-minded, and tech-savvy. They are not just cutting the cord to cable television, but to businesses, brands, and workplaces that are unresponsive to their needs. With the unemployment rate at a 49 year low, look for higher rates of job-jumping in 2019, as Millennials seek better pay and career advancement.

Note to sick care: Convenience care trumps value based care. Tech savvy racially diverse patients want to see tech savvy, racially diverse doctors

Driving Force 3: The Fourth Industrial Revolution is a Game Changer. 

Digital disruption has already reordered the playing field in industries ranging from college textbook publishing to cable television to advertising. But the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) is an even higher magnitude Driving Force of Change still in its infancy. The first three industrial revolutions promulgated steam power, electrification, mass production and early electronics. The Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) is about the acceleration brought on by 50 years of Moore’s Law (a doubling of capacity every 18 – 24 months). It is also about the convergence of an array of technological innovations, from the Industrial Internet of things to virtual reality to drones to artificial intelligence, to biotechnology and beyond. To profit from 4.0, businesses and their leaders will need to think ahead of the curve, and revamp the way they do strategic planning and create cultures of innovation. Nothing less will keep up.

Note to sick care: Here how doctors and patients can win the 4th Industrial Revolution. Here's what we need to teach (if you can find a school where the teachers are not on strike) kids in P-12

Driving Force 4. In the Age of Amazon, offering Real Time Convenience is becoming table stakes for staying in the game. 

Amazon’s Same Day Delivery service and its artificial intelligence-based Anticipatory Shipping program are examples of real time convenience innovations now transforming consumer and B to B buyer expectations across industries. Businesses that are mired in “the way we’ve always done things around here” will falter.

Note to sick care: Amedzon is already starting to eat your lunch

Driving Force 5. Artificial Intelligence has entered the age of implementation. 

All technologies go through a period of development before they go to a period of application. How might we take advantage? How might competitors gain advantage by moving first with this trend? Examples:Real estate broker Coldwell Banker is experimenting with A.I. to target classes of likely buyers for a specific property. Fidelity is finding ways to apply artificial intelligence, computer algorithms, and voice recognition software to the hidebound world of money management and investing. Every technology goes through the Discovery Phase then enters the Implementation Phase. This is where the action will be in 2019 and beyond: forward thinking firms will begin to automate routine office tasks like accounting and billing, but then seizing the larger opportunities: looking across your entire enterprise, and using A.I. to enhance customer experience, get better at sensing demand trends, automate machines, and serve customers in new ways.

Note to sick care: Sick care ain't Uber. There are still significant barriers to AI dissemination and implementation. IoMT challenges are big.

Driving Force 6. Social Media is heightening decline of social distrust. Here’s a physician guide to social media.

Note to sick care: Social media is not the only reason why patients are losing trust.

These are not the only drivers, though. Others include:

• Health entrepreneurship drivers
• Trends in digital health entrepreneurship
• Drivers of international physician entrepreneurship
• The sick care gig economy
• The future of sick care work
• The rise of BIG MEDICINE v small medicine
• Sick care as a loss leader
• Patient entrepreneurship
• DIY medicine
• Physician alternative career opportunities
• Consumerism: Is it Myth or reality?

The train has left the tracks. The only question is whether and how fast sick care USA can catch up and bridge the now with the next and the new.

Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA is the President and CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs.