The pandemic took the world by surprise in early 2020 and created pressing concerns for healthcare ecosystems globally. It challenged traditional operating protocols and disrupted the supply chain, triggering critical supply deficiencies across the value chain. The pandemic certainly helped accelerate the industry’s adoption of virtual care and necessitated a much needed shift towards digital transformation.
In an attempt to future-proof themselves, companies are revising their business models to speed up service delivery. They are also looking at innovative ways of creating value post pandemic. As Rwanda continues to position itself as a leading hub in Africa, this article provides some insights on key emerging trends in the health care industry and examines how countries can prepare their healthcare ecosystems for new realities in a post pandemic world.
1. Digital transformation
The Covid-19 pandemic has been a driver and an accelerator of digital innovation in the healthcare industry throughout 2020. It has simultaneously exposed a growing gap between the demand for health care and the supply of staff and resources and it has developed stakeholder awarenesss on the importance of adopting digital technologies to help close this gap.
Health care organisations are transitioning to advanced IT systems, powered by cloud computing, data and analytical tools to enable real-time, smart, digital health. They are using interoperable data and platforms supported by deep learning capabilities. They are also applying virtual care, artificial intelligence and other technologies to personalize medicine, and enable real-time care interventions.
There are various benefits for patients, clinicians and health care ecosystems which are tied to the adoption of digital transformation. Digital transformation empowers patients to monitor and self-manage their health, which increases access to more timely and convenient care. For clinicians, going digital frees up capacity, by allowing for the automating of repetitive tasks. With respect to health care ecosystems, digitisation improves the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of systems and processes and allows for new business models of care.
2. The staying power of virtual
Many speculate whether the adoption of virtual health services will actually continue after the Covid-19 pandemic. The surge in provision of virtual services is prompting industry stakeholders to reasses their current role, by moving away from in-person screening and monitoring to adopting a more future-focused role as digital enablers, by redesigning and rethinking health care delivery models.
Once vaccines become widely available and patients regain confidence in engaging with their care providers in person, there is likely to be a small reversal in virtual care, however, singals indicate that virtual health will continue to become the norm for numerous types of clinical interactions once the pandeic passes.
3. Evolving business models
We have already discussed how technology is changing the way in which health care provision is imagined and delivered. This is also resulting in a change in traditional business models commonly associated with the health care industry. With the introduction of smart devices and AI based algorithims, it is possible to remotely diagnose, monitor and treat disease, leading to a shift in health care delivery, from hospitals to patients’ home. This shift in this mode of delivery paves way for an increased focus on personalised services.
As organizations plan their digital agendas, it is important to bridge the gap between a technology’s potential and its successful delivery. Companies need to develop an exponential mindset that leverages technology for business model reinvention. The evolving health care ecosystem is creating new opportunities for companies to capture future value through the development of personalized products and services and end-to-end solutions. The potential of digital and data is big enough to reinvent the entire business value chain.
Whilst the pandemic has exposed a number of structural weaknesses of existing health care systems, it has also shown the huge potential of digital health care ecosystems. Companies responding to the crisis were forced to rethink many existing rules, regulations and also processes, which allowed them to innovate and also collaborate with one another. At the G20 Global Health Summit, which was recently held in Rome, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a European intiative on manufacturing and access to vaccines, medicines and health technologies in Africa. Such an initiative will help foster the right environment and act as an enabler for technological innovation throughout the industry. As Rwanda continues to work towards positioning itself as a leading African hub, this initiative will continue to strenghten the existing healthcare ecosystem. As a Company, we have launched Vaccine, a report that presents and argues for the case of vaccine manufacturing in Africa.
The writer is a senior consultant at Seed, a research-driven internationally focussed, advisory firm based out of Malta, Europe.
sarah@seedconsultancy.com | www.seedconsultancy.com