4. Population Health Management Strategies to Advert Readmissions
Health care facilities have begun using health management analytics to prevent readmissions, and this will continue at a growing pace. Health care management professionals have come to the realization that there is a strong connection between population health management and readmissions reduction. As a result, health care providers are focusing on avertable readmissions. By keeping the number of readmissions down, costs and patient waiting times are reduced, while doctor and health care professional time is freed to care for additional patients.
5. Privacy Becomes More Important
In recent years, patient privacy has become an issue in many health care facilities. Due to breaches and violations, patients are becoming more educated in health care privacy. In addition, people are citing privacy and security policies as an important factor in choosing a hospital. Though cost, admission and quality are all of concern to health care patients, privacy and security don’t fall far behind. As a result, health care management must be on top of privacy policies.
6. Compliance to State and Federal Laws
Health care facilities have been doing their best to comply with all state and federal laws, in hopes to not accrue any fines or further actions. Additionally, in an attempt to attract to customers, health care facilities have been paying careful attention to compliance laws and are conscious of media backlash.
7. Process Improvements
Like using analytical data to support population health management to advert readmission, health care processes will continue to be refined to be more efficient and effective. Improving processes ties back to cutting costs, privacy concerns and compliance to state and federal laws as buttoning up processes will help with all three. Overall, being more resourceful and creating seamless processes is now the focus and will continue to be in the coming years.
8. Implementation of Technological Advancements
In addition to the increasing responsibilities of IT management in health care, implementation of new technology is also a trend that we will continue to see more of in the health care industry. While many health care facilities have moved to electronic medical records, many are still working to put this feature into practice. Many hospitals still do not have online billing capabilities, which is a feature many patients have grown accustomed to. Moreover, health care facilities are also working to employ the latest technological treatment options to better serve patients.
9. Evolving Leadership Opportunities
Health care managers are now expected to have more than master’s degree in health care administration. Health care facilities expect mastery of skills learned in higher education, but also leadership skills that can’t necessarily be taught. Health care leadership responsibilities will include cross-functional abilities that allow individuals to comprehend other main functions of the health care organization. Additionally, leadership capability and the ability to integrate with others to achieve multiple business goals are becoming increasingly important.
While completing your Master's Degree in Health Care Administration, be sure to keep these health care trends in mind to better prepare yourself for the workforce. Trends in the health care industry in 2017 are expected to carry on for the next few years, with cutting costs and efficiency at the top of the list. Health care organizations are working to improve processes, implement the most advanced technology available and hire qualified leaders to better serve business needs.