2017 Healthcare Predictions, What Are Yours?

Model of new Karolinska Hospital in Sweden

Everyone is making 2017 healthcare predictions for the new year; from individuals and their diet and exercise plans, hospitals and payers focusing on their relationships and the financial industry speculating which healthcare stocks will outperform which other healthcare stocks. Below, I've pulled from the best lists ranging from marketing, finance, and consulting. There is plenty of speculation to go around in this $3 trillion-dollar industry. What are your predictions? Agree or Disagree with these lists?
 
Bullet points pulled from the website articles, click on the links to read more. 
1. Forbes: 9 Healthcare Predictions for 2017 

• Venture Capital (VC) Healthcare Investment will have a Record Year. 
• Deployment of more sophisticated outcomes-based compensation care models
• Strong push toward price control and transparency measures around drugs

 
2. Beckers: 5 Healthcare Predictions for 2017 - Behavioral analytics, patient personas & more 

• Behavioral analytics for a rounded-out picture of patients
• Fraud, waste and abuse of opioids
• Big data to develop patient personas 

 
3. Bernard Health Blog: Healthcare Predictions for 2017

• Obamacare repealed
• Medicaid block-granted
• Return to pre-ACA insurance market 

 
4. Health IT Outcomes: 4 Healthcare Industry Predictions for 2017

• Identity fraud out-popularizes identity theft 
• Health systems integrate care delivery and financing on a large-scale
• Bundled payment programs will be successful 

 
**5. Fortune: Why Drug Costs will keep Rising in 2017

• Carbohydrates will become scarier than cholesterol
• Insurance premiums will spike
• Hospital bed days will fall
• Obamacare will change less than Republican rhetoric suggests
• Drug prices continue to rise uncontrolled

 
6. PWC: Medical Cost Trend: Behind the Numbers 2017

• Decline in utilization trend puts more focus on price trend
• Inflator #1: Convenience has a cost
• Inflator #2: Increased access for behavioral health

 
7. PM360: 10 Predictions for How the Healthcare Industry will Change in 2017

• The rise of decentralized healthcare and the decline of hospitals
• Healthcare may be one of the most interesting "Big Data" petri dishes society has to offer
• Telemedicine goes from pilot to practice to eventually mainstream

 
8. Philips: Top 5 HealthTech Predictions for 2017

• We will share more data
• We will embrace the consumer
• We will be proactive 

 
9. Fidelity: 2017 Outlook: Healthcare

• Transition to a more consumer-driven healthcare marketplace is underway
• Bio-therapeutic innovation cycle "breakthroughs"
• New products and medical devices drive down health care costs

 
10. Tsahia's 3: 

• Obamacare will not change as much as the rhetoric suggests. People want better, more cost-effective healthcare but they do not want to return to the days of denials due to pre-existing conditions or lifetime limits. Plus, the provisions in the ACA regarding substance abuse care are badly needed, especially for communities that have been devastated by the opioid epidemic. Obamacare has led to greater innovative public-private partnerships addressing the social determinants of health such as Amazon accepting foodstamps to combat food deserts.  
• Healthcare will be the source for "Big Data." Medical data will combine with clinical trial data and then get married to biotech and pharma to create new and more effective drugs and treatments. 
• The United States will lean toward a more socialized *gasp* system. Healthcare professionals have the best interests of patients in mind, but also realize their practices have to be sustainable. The US will learn from international health systems. The Commonwealth Fund has an incredible profile of the healthcare systems from several countries. 

What does that mean? 

• Care coordination: the patient journey will begin in the primary care office - this may include General Practitioners, Nurse Practitioners and/or Gynecologists. 
• Community medicine: home visits and telemedicine will increase. There have been some pilot studies that dispatch home care from ambulances and empower non-MD and DO professionals to administer care. 
• Patient responsibility: an increased "culture" of going to the PCP, understanding costs, diagnoses and treatment options. In addition, controlling our own healthcare costs where we can such as taking medication regularly, proper diet and exercise.