Driving Health Care Change:
Tech Companies or Providers?

We're all familiar with it. Large and small, technology companies are disrupting traditional industries. The likes of Apple, Google and Microsoft are leveraging information, technology and seemingly unlimited investment to drive change. Amazon bought a grocery store chain. And Best Buy is entering the health care space with its acquisition of Current Health!

Clearly, this is no longer a trend. It's just today's reality. And that reality is already extending into health care, where technology companies are rapidly entering this space to cause similar disruption. However, the debate isn't necessarily whether this disruption is a positive one. It is positive and necessary, as it drives much-needed efficiency changes and improved accessibility. The debate centers on who is better positioned to drive this change — technology companies or health care providers?

First, let's better understand the context and scope of this effort. The health care industry has been talking about digital health* for decades. The pandemic clearly and exponentially accelerated digital health adoption and tools. This is supported by the fact that over one third of consumers used digital health by August 2020. Although the pandemic helped drive these increases in utilization, all evidence indicates that the preference for digital health solutions is now more widely accepted, even expected, and is here to stay.

According to The Medical Futurist, some estimates project the global digital health market will exceed $504.4 billion by 2025. That's a nearly six-fold increase from its $86.4 billion 2018 valuation. Nearly half of that falls into the care delivery segment.

In a recent McKinsey study, the care delivery category — which includes virtual care, innovative and more effective therapies, remote patient support and treatment for patients — has the greatest measurable cost-savings potential, approximately $270 billion for the United States. Technologies in this category supplement or manage care at lower costs. As a result, both providers and patients benefit from improved outcomes and reduced costs associated with care delivery technologies.

With all of this at stake, one can see why tech firms are eagerly and rapidly entering this space. But who is better at delivering health care? Health care providers leveraging technology, or technology companies with little or no care delivery experience?

Due to the personal nature and obvious risk factors involved in health care, logic would say health care providers leveraging technology is the best choice. However, that doesn't mean all health care providers are positioned to meet such expectations. Here are a few critical success factors that today's health care providers must meet to lead the way.

• First and foremost, providers must deliver a quality of care at least equal to, if not better than, the care patients are used to receiving in person — wherever they are, through whatever channels they want, whenever they need it. If patients perceive they are getting a lower quality of care, they will seek alternatives that give them the care they expect in the way they want it.
• Traditional health care isn't going away anytime soon, so it is critical that digital health be integrated with any in-person care patients receive. It must be a seamless experience throughout the care continuum — from scheduling to follow-up visits to ongoing care to billing.
• One of the great promises and possibilities with digital health is improved health and access for everyone, especially those who have historically had a hard time accessing care. Providers must leverage technology that scales, provides alternative access options and a holistic approach, and ultimately improves population health regardless of demographics, geography or social determinants.
• Nearly any advancement in health care must include a focused effort on cost containment. Digital health solutions bring scale, convenience and access, and by using technology where appropriate, it is possible to increase revenues while delivering care more cost effectively.
• Finally, providers must use digital health solutions as the alternative method to filling resource gaps — from physicians to hospitalists to nurses. In the current climate of recruitment and retention challenges and employee burnout, health care providers cannot deliver on the above goals without filling staffing gaps. Technology can proactively help mitigate these risks and help the workforce do work differently.

Facing such complexities and public health issues, digital health solutions need both technology and health care providers to work together to solve today's and tomorrow's challenges. OSF OnCall Digital Health, an entity within OSF HealthCare, is already leading the way. OSF OnCall CEO Michelle Conger believes that digital disruption is a vital path for the future of health care: "It's now just as critical to create a thoughtful digital experience as it is an in-person experience. Digital health can break down traditional geographic barriers of choice, giving patients more freedom to choose."

Conger goes on to reinforce that it is imperative technology and health care work together, but the provider must drive the change. "The time has come where the patient must be at the center of health care and not the hospital or doctor. So it is important we look for different ways to provide direct patient care. We are best suited to drive that change because at its core, it is still about delivering quality care."

In a recent Harvard Business Review article, Hemant Taneja, the managing director of General Catalyst, sums up the debate this way: "We must partner with and empower health systems, not disrupt them. Technologists often see themselves as the solution rather than contributors to the solution. Technology alone won't save us from COVID-19 or create the pandemic-resilient health system we need. Health workers and scientists are the true heroes of this crisis. We need to empower them, not disrupt or replace them. Rebuilding our health system will require an attitude of partnership with experts in the field and those who serve on the frontlines every day. Technology will only be a leverage point if it makes providers' lives easier."

*Note: To better understand digital health, see our "Simplifying Digital Health" article.