Understanding Managed Care in 2020 and Beyond

The foundation of sales or account management is understanding clients’ needs. Keeping up with managed care trends and knowing where the market is headed, helps with anticipating needs and providing a higher level of service to clients.

Here are the major trends impacting the healthcare landscape in 2020 and beyond.

The Changing Healthcare Landscape

Managed care began with a simple goal: to decrease the cost of healthcare in the United States. But while most managed care plans were focused on cutting costs, they didn’t give much thought to consumers. Managed care became a one-size-fits-all healthcare solution for everyone.

To provide personalized care at an affordable cost, there have been several advancements in the managed care landscape including Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) and the Affordable Care Act (ACA)—otherwise known as Obamacare. The ACA offers consumers more options to choose and fine-tune their healthcare coverage, while ACOs allow healthcare providers to focus on the quality of care rather than cost.

This has led to changing the healthcare landscape from cost-based to consumer-based. Plus, as more people are becoming eligible for Medicaid due to its expansion, managed care plans are being forced to change their products, programs, and benefits to be more consumer-centric to keep up with the increased demand.

Looking Beyond 2020

The future of managed care is consumer-focused. Instead of focusing on how to pay for care, most managed care plans are now centered around what consumers need and how to compete in the changing landscape. Here are some of the major trends impacting the future of managed care:

1. Telehealth and Remote Healthcare Options

Telehealth has seen significant adoption in the healthcare industry over the past several years. More and more healthcare providers are choosing to offer remote, virtual care to their patients to help cut costs both on their end and for their patients.

While many might think of telehealth as a trend born of the COVID-19 pandemic, research shows that remote healthcare is here to stay. Over 83% of patients expect to continue using virtual appointments even after the pandemic is resolved.

2. Medicaid Expansion

In 2018, new legislation was introduced to expand Medicaid coverage to even more Americans. Of course, the wheels of the government move slowly, so many states have yet to adopt the new legislation and referendums.

In the upcoming years, expect states to continue expanding Medicaid coverage. Health systems will need to care for an increased number of patients without sacrificing quality. To support the increased demand, small healthcare organizations and hospitals will need to merge and contract more specialty services with other companies to handle the workload. This means a more collaborative healthcare landscape.

3. Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Trillions of dollars have been poured into advancements in machine learning and artificial intelligence to create a space where data modelling is readily available to patients, healthcare providers, and industry professionals. 

For managed care providers, this means access to more meaningful data than ever before. It’ll become simpler to research trends and use predictive analyses to anticipate needs, leading to a higher quality of personalized patient care.

4. Consumerism

Patients now have more access to information and managed care choices. People are looking for the lowest cost managed care plans that best suit their unique needs. With this switch to consumerism, government bodies have been pushing healthcare providers to offer transparent pricing and quality scores to simplify choices for consumers.

Stay in the know with our Managed Care Seminars

Account managers in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries are expected to have a strong knowledge of the changing trends in the healthcare system and the factors driving it, so that they can anticipate the implications of their customers and address their needs and concerns with competence.

The Brooks Group offers managed care training seminars to get your team to understand and keep up to date with the latest trends in the managed care landscape. 

If you’re interested in learning about our other healthcare executive training programs, contact us. You can also register for classes using our online portal. Custom classes for your team are available upon request.

This blog was originally posted on https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2020/12/understanding-managed-care-in-2020-and-beyond/