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Health and wellness are driving factors for the global population. According to an independent study by McKinsey, 82 percent of US consumers now consider wellness among their top priorities. Throughout 2023, the healthcare sector faced off against payer issues, staffing woes, and rising costs much like other industries. However, great strides were made in accessible mental health services, legitimate mail order medications, women’s reproductive health, and the latest technological advancements and discoveries. These breakthroughs in other sectors have guided the medical industry to realize that client retention is a priority for healthcare practitioners globally. With Mmore than 70 percent of patients report taking their business elsewhere due to a perceived attitude of indifference. By actively listening to patients, we can strive for better patient care. This focus on the patient also reflects attitudes toward consumer expectations for effective, thoroughly tested, and scientifically proven treatments and products. A great way to maintain patient focused care is to work with Responsive Answering Service for after-hours call handling. When your patients can reach a live agent representing your office or hospital affiliate at any time, you’re showing them you care about their healthcare experience. Now, halfway through 2024, it’s important to look ahead and see what is forecasted to be history in the making for the healthcare field. 

Integrating Generative AI Will Impact Patient Care

AI has made a breakthrough into the outlook for countless industries, and the healthcare field is no different. M3’s Global panel found that generative artificial intelligence (AI), will have the greatest impact for healthcare advancements in 2024 and beyond. AI is expected to impact the optimization of delivery, assist doctors in making clinical decisions, tackle longstanding challenges, and as a whole increase a patient centered approach to health and wellness. One of the ways generative AI is helping influence the future of patient care is through personalization. Wearable rings and watches are one of the ways patients personalize their health and wellness. With more than 75 percent of consumers in a sample stating they are open to wearing a wellness device. The integration of patient data gathered from these devices, in collaboration with health care providers, has the potential to give individuals a comprehensive look at health. As well as inform decision-making for providers.Areas for improvement include ethical concerns, data security, and the importance of thoroughly vetting AI for biases and other unintended consequences. Thankfully, when you’re working in conjunction with Responsive Answering Service, we have the capacity to personalize patient experiences as an extension of your brick-and-mortar office, without the assistance of AI. Unsurprisingly, AI is here to stay, and has the potential to assist in fostering a patient care experience that is both informed and personalized.

Healthcare Workforce Management

According to M3 Global Research, “in 13 out of 44 European countries, at least 40 percent of doctors are aged 55 or older, in 2022.” This foreshadows issues in managing the healthcare field’s staffing as the baby boomers age out of the workforce. Newly graduated healthcare professionals are not likely to meet the growing need for qualified practitioners. This is partly due to factors that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic, and the corresponding stressors that the healthcare sectors faced. It is important for the healthcare field to continue focusing on staff retention, throughout 2024 and beyond. Another area for improvement is the training and education of new healthcare practitioners. Rigorous educational requirements are one of the barriers to new generations of doctors and other professionals. The staffing crisis will require effort from all healthcare practitioners to make lasting changes, because this crisis directly affects patient care. With these factors in mind your selected answering service is one of the best ways to ensure that team members are optimized for essential care duties. The value of taking time to make sure staff’s needs are met is invaluable to staff retention and recruitment. When you utilize an answering service for call handling, you and your medical team can take more time caring for in-house patients, while we take care of patients over the phone. 

Preventative Healthcare

As consumers become more health conscious, with roughly 70 percent of respondents in the UK and the US having purchased more products and services focusing on longevity and health in 2023, than ever before, with Gen Z and Millennials investing in their health more than older generations. Part of this shift is due to the prioritization of healthy aging for those over 50, and an increased focus on health in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Preventative care saw a decrease during the pandemic as the healthcare sector and the population at large became focused on managing the virus that causes COVID-19. As we move into a more endemic stage, practitioners and their patients are working together to utilize technological advancements to prevent chronic conditions. The focus is on catching conditions early for optimal treatment outcomes, while creating and maintaining healthy habits. While living a healthier lifestyle can be challenging, services and products backed by science are driving the push for cleaner eating, healthy movement, and overall greater wellbeing, and insurance companies and employers are leaning towards policy adjustments that provide incentives for preventative care visits. When you work with a Responsive Answering Service for call handling, they become another tool for improving patient resources. When patients can reach your office for matters big and small at any hour, they can take the lead on individual health. 

Data Privacy and Security Is A Cornerstone of Patient Care

As mentioned above, AI continues to be integrated into workflow systems. The importance of protecting confidential patient metrics and information is at an all-time high. With HIPPA compliance guaranteeing patient rights, it is vital that servers and files containing sensitive information carry the same level of security features. The sophistication of cybersecurity is going to continue to see improvements, as AI gives individuals more options. It makes sense for the healthcare field to work with HIPPA compliant answering services, like Responsive Answering Service. When you know patients are protected from data breaches, you can spend more time improving in-house data storage. Not to mention our highly secure patient messaging protocols. When you are a client of the answering service you gain access to our in-house managed miSecure Messaging portal, that allows for secure message transfers from the answering service to the practitioner. This process is entirely HIPPA compliant, which is increasingly important as individuals have concerns regarding the data storage and sharing on their trackable healthcare devices. According to McKinsey, approximately 30 percent of China, UK, and US consumers are open to using a wearable device if user data is private, and only accessible by the consumer. With cookies and tracking metrics automatically enabled on many websites, it can be difficult to know exactly how third parties are using your data. Therefore, it is important for individuals and health practitioners to improve cybersecurity measures throughout 2024 and into the future.

Expanding Virtual Patient Care Capabilities

Nontraditional care methods are becoming increasingly popular, as the healthcare field modifies the way they provide patient care. Some examples of nontraditional care include virtual appointments, digital tools, and online monitoring procedures. According to Cigna, 80 percent of physicians identified as being overextended. As telecommuting becomes more accepted and accessible for different levels of practitioners, virtual modalities are receiving a higher level of utilization. Many individuals use an online feature or app to communicate with their healthcare providers. As remote options become more available, we could be seeing a sustainable redistribution of the patient care model. This results in more patients reaching out remotely for minor instances or visiting urgent care facilities when appropriate. Along this vein, physicians have the ability to triage important tasks to assist with serious patient concerns. A variable that may be influencing this is the trend towards more individualized and independent healthcare monitoring. An answering service contract can allow agents to act as virtual assistants to take pressures off of healthcare practices, and can schedule appointments, answer routine questions, and direct patients; so, they know the best ways to connect with your locations.  These top trends are points that are relevant to the industry now and will see significant growth in the coming years. That is why having the right people on your team to guide you through these trends is important. One of the ways to accomplish this is with the help of Responsive Answering Service. We have industry experts from multiple areas working as a team towards your goal of personalized patient care, while maintaining a human touch that still can’t be beat by integrative AI. Especially since over 86 percent of respondents indicated that their preference was to speak to a person over an AI bot. As we move forward with the exciting possibilities of AI through 2024 and into the coming years, it is important to remember that a focus on patient care is not complete without a live person. An answering service could be the missing resource that allows your office or facility to easily maintain patient relations. All while ensuring that your patients are receiving top-notch interactions with anyone on your in-house or answering service teams.