What we learned in 2020 and what we’re expecting this year

March 10, 2021
Niko Skievaski President & Co-Founder

One: Double down on Innovation

Every year, thought leaders usher in a new year by predicting what trends will impact their respective industries in the coming months. In one of my recent Forbes columns, I took a different approach to predictions, focusing more on lessons learned from 2020 to then help guide these four forward-looking prescriptions: 

Prescription 1: Double down on innovation

Prescription 2: Make interoperability a greater priority

Prescription 3: Facilitate telehealth through infrastructure

Prescription 4: Take on more risk (when it makes sense)

I think the most exciting prediction pertains to innovation. 2021 is the promise of more apps that simplify the healthcare process, bring telehealth directly to devices, and allow people to collect and share health data with clinicians. Even more, healthcare partnerships with big retailers, that continue to get skin in the healthcare game, will make healthcare more convenient and easier to access. As well, coupled with price transparency, consumers should be able to own and manage their health information for preventative and chronic care. The recent strides in interoperability regulation have crystallized the mandate for healthcare organizations to share data without friction to ensure accurate, timely care. 

Looking back on 2020, we saw an increasing demand in health tech and digital health solutions, particularly in diagnostics and remote patient monitoring. The significant disruption also showed us that healthcare can move quickly; the industry now has an opportunity to hit the reset button on how it addresses its relationship with patients and the care it offers. 

2021 represents an unprecedented opportunity to take advantage of this turning point in healthcare and rebuild it to delight consumers amid their newfound expectations with the care they deserve in a format they demand.

Here’s to innovation in 2021!

Portions of this article originally appeared in Forbes.

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