2023 Trending Topics for Healthcare Leaders
As 2023 picks up steam, critical healthcare issues are proving to be variations on a theme – many are just continued challenges but with new twists. Here are the trends, news and hot topics we see emerging in 2023 for the healthcare industry.
1. Supply Chain Challenges
While supply chain issues continue to plague healthcare organizations, stakeholders are learning how to best cope with these challenges. Hospital and health system leaders, clinicians, suppliers and distributors understand more about supply chain challenges and are implementing interventions to improve supply chain logistics. In the American Hospital Association’s Advancing Health Care through Supply Chain Excellence, Owens & Minor outlined three key areas for healthcare supply chain success in 2023: cost efficiency, supplier reliability, and keeping pace with change.
2. Interoperability
With increasing amounts of healthcare data in circulation, interoperability will be critical. IT innovators and startups are focused on creating on-demand patient journey insights, self-service analytics, automation, AI models, machine learning, archived data accessibility and more – to make data more secure, useful, and interconnected (Healthcare IT Today). In addition to innovations in the interoperability space, healthcare leaders face changing regulatory requirements around interoperability. In the fall of 2022, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized its changes to the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program for eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs) for 2023.
3. Rising Costs and Inflation
A recent report from the American Hospital Association highlighted the significant increase in healthcare operations costs, exacerbated by inflation. Results showed hospital labor expenses increased 19% through 2021 compared to 2019, drug expenses were 28% higher, and medical supply costs per patient were 20% more than pre-pandemic levels. Leaders must consider how these costs are passed on to patients, with half of U.S. adults reporting that it is difficult to pay their healthcare costs and many patients skipping care or treatments (Kaiser Family Foundation). An article in Healthcare Financial Management Association features a roadmap for healthcare execs to use cost analytics to increase efficiency, reduce costs and maintain quality.
4. Executive Leadership Departures
According to Chief Health Executive, hospital CEOs continue to leave. Reasons cited for the departures include concerns with staffing shortages, inflation and possible recession. Some healthcare leaders are retiring, while others are moving to different facilities or out of the healthcare industry. This opens opportunities for emerging executives, rising leaders and interested clinicians. This also opens the door for existing leaders to invest in training opportunities to cultivate leaders within their organizations.
5. Preventing Hospital-Associated Infections
As hospitals rebound from COVID, patient safety remains paramount. Unfortunately, hospital-associated infections (HAIs) are a massive problem healthcare leaders must face. High patient volumes, influxes of COVID cases, and staffing shortages reduce hospitals’ ability to keep infection prevention and control practices at peak levels. Beckers Hospital Review reports four of six HAIs increased by 5-14% in 2021. Leaders can consult the CMS Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program and the Centers for Disease Control Prevention Toolkits for guidance and regulations on preventing HAIs.
Thanks for reading our resource on recent news in the healthcare industry. To find out which hospitals are seeking healthcare executives, visit Cejka Search.
