Page 57 - BusinessWest November 9, 2020

Forward Thinking
Even Amid a Pandemic, AHealthcare Continues to Evolve
rundown of the big issues as are senior-living residents and their tance of screening. In fact, one huge story facing healthcare 20 years families. over the past 20 years has been the rise of ago would, in some ways, Technology has exploded as well over preventive wellness and patient education be similar to the same list the past two decades, from robotic and — and keeping people out of the hospital today, encompassing per- minimally invasive surgery to increasingly as much as possible.
sistent challenges like hospital finances, targeted cancer treatments and rapid So, yes, many decades-old concerns
staffing shortages in certain special- ties, strategies to tackle substance abuse, and diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s.
Yet, the solutions to those issues have certainly evolved. For example, hospitals have seen a dramatic shift to accountable care, a model in which disparate provid- ers work together and are paid for patient outcomes, not how many procedures they order up. And patients are increas- ingly active participants in their own care,
advances in prosthetics — not to mention the IT revolution, and the shift to elec- tronic health records, patient portals, and, of course, everyone’s favorite pandemic- driven technology, telemedicine, which, most doctors agree, will continue to play a key role post-COVID-19.
Education has expanded as well. Stroke survival rates are higher these days, partly because people better understand the signs, and so are cancer survival rates, with the public more aware of the impor-
of patients remain key concerns in 2020 (along with that whole pandemic thing that has dominated this unusual year). But the way we tackle those issues — with new ideas, new technology, and new facil- ities — is dramatically different.
To better paint that picture, we asked area health leaders what the next 20 years might hold in the areas of hospital admin- istration, behavioral health, cancer care, and health education. On the following pages are their intriguing perspectives.
Healthcare
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