Key Improvements for the Healthcare System

CVS Health is making a bold $20 billion investment over the next decade to transform the U.S. healthcare experience, aiming to deliver more accessible, integrated, and consumer-friendly care. ⸻ Why This Move Is Both Innovative and Necessary 1. Addressing the Primary Care Shortage The U.S. is facing a significant shortage of primary care physicians, with projections indicating a deficit of up to 48,000 by 2034. CVS is tackling this issue by expanding its MinuteClinics and acquiring primary care providers like Oak Street Health, aiming to fill the gap with accessible, in-network care options. 2. Meeting the Demand for Digital Health Solutions Consumer expectations have shifted towards digital convenience, with 80% of patients utilizing CVS’s self-service digital tools to complete necessary forms ahead of their appointments at HealthHUB and MinuteClinic facilities. CVS’s investment includes enhancing its digital platforms to provide seamless virtual care, prescription management, and health monitoring. 3. Integrating Services for a Holistic Approach By combining its pharmacy services, insurance offerings through Aetna, and in-store clinics, CVS is creating a unified healthcare ecosystem. This integration aims to improve care coordination, reduce costs, and enhance patient outcomes. 4. Responding to Changing Consumer Behaviors With a growing reliance on digital health solutions and home delivery of prescriptions, CVS is adapting by closing underperforming stores and introducing new formats like HealthHUBs, focusing on comprehensive health services. ⸻ The Broader Impact CVS’s strategic investment is not just about expanding services; it’s about reimagining the healthcare experience to be more patient-centric, digitally accessible, and integrated. By addressing current gaps and anticipating future needs, CVS is positioning itself at the forefront of healthcare innovation. https://lnkd.in/erYKJ9GX

We're racing to make healthcare more efficient - shorter visits, faster throughput, optimized schedules. The goals seem reasonable: serve more patients, reduce costs, improve access. But in this rush toward efficiency, we're inadvertently designing out the moments where healing actually happens. Those 'inefficient' moments - when a nurse lingers to hold a hand, when a doctor sits in silence while a patient processes news, when a family finds support in a quiet corner - aren't wasteful. They're essential. They're where trust builds, where understanding develops, where healing begins. After years studying healthcare delivery, the patterns are clear: The spaces between scheduled care often matter more than the care itself. The unplanned conversations frequently have more impact than the documented ones. The 'waste' in the system often serves a crucial human purpose. As we embrace AI and automation, this tension will only increase. Yet there's a way forward that balances efficiency with humanity. Here's what it looks like: Design for Time Richness Create systems that protect crucial moments - the quiet conversations, the careful explanations, the space for questions. Efficiency shouldn't mean rushing through human connections. Honor Natural Rhythms Healthcare has its own pace - of healing, of understanding, of building trust. Our systems should respect these rhythms rather than forcing everything into standardized timeframes. Enable Real Relationships Build processes that support relationship development between providers and patients. Sometimes continuity matters more than convenience. Support Informal Care Networks Make space for the unofficial support systems that develop naturally in healthcare settings. These aren't inefficiencies - they're essential support structures. Measure What Matters Beyond traditional metrics like throughput and wait times, track relationship strength, trust development, and healing support. What we measure shapes what we value. The implications extend beyond patient experience. Healthcare workers suffer too when forced to sacrifice human connection for efficiency. Burnout often stems not from working too much, but from being unable to care in the ways they know matter most. This isn't about rejecting efficiency altogether. It's about being thoughtful about where efficiency serves care and where it hinders it. Sometimes slower is better. Sometimes inefficiency is valuable. Sometimes the best healthcare experience isn't the most optimized one. As healthcare faces mounting pressure to do more with less, this balance becomes crucial. We can create systems that are both efficient and human. But it requires us to recognize that some of the most valuable moments in healthcare are the ones that don't show up on our metrics. The future of healthcare depends on getting this balance right. Our challenge isn't just to make healthcare more efficient - it's to make it more efficiently human.

In my years in healthcare, I've observed a troubling disconnect: while home health services consistently provide quality care at lower costs, they remain severely underutilized in our healthcare system. The evidence is clear - patients heal better in the comfort of their own homes, experience fewer complications, and report higher satisfaction with their care. Home-based services prevent costly hospital readmissions and reduce the need for facility-based care. Yet our current reimbursement structures actively discourage utilization. Fee-for-service models, where reimbursement is often below the cost of providing care, offers inadequate compensation for home-based solutions. Yet healthcare providers have little financial incentive to experiment with new care models absent a payment mechanism. This misalignment between patient outcomes and financial incentives creates a system where the most cost-effective options may be the least financially viable for providers. If we're serious about bending the healthcare cost curve while improving patient experience, we must test new reimbursement models that incentivize scalable and cost-effective home-based services, including key elements such as: ◾ An efficient and focused home-based assessment that identifies key real-world challenges in the patient's living environment ◾ Care coordination services to navigate follow-up appointments and medication regimens ◾ Dedicated caregiver support, including personal care assistance and respite options ◾ Care gap identification with connections to community health resources and solutions Value-based payment systems that reward providers for delivering efficient, effective care in the home are long overdue. #HealthcareReform #HomeHealth #ValueBasedCare #HealthcarePolicy

Americans have the shortest lifespans and the highest number of preventable deaths, despite ranking #1 on healthcare spending among developed nations. A recent Commonwealth Fund study revealed why. [Mirror, Mirror 2024: A Portrait of the Failing U.S. Health System] Our system breaks down in 5 key areas. Here’s how AI can help alleviate these problems: 1- Access to Care Millions cannot access basic care. > 26 million are uninsured. > 25% of working-age adults are underinsured. > After-hours care is hard to find. AI can transform access by predicting community health needs, streamlining patient-provider matching, and creating intelligent care navigation systems. 2- Administrative Inefficiency Administrative costs are three times higher than in other nations. > Insurance systems are complex. > Paperwork takes too much time. AI can streamline the entire administrative ecosystem. From automated documentation to intelligent billing systems – freeing up resources for actual patient care. 3- Care Process Healthcare delivery is fragmented. > Providers do not communicate well. > Patients struggle to navigate care. AI can create a unified care experience by connecting disparate systems, automating follow-ups, and ensuring seamless transitions between providers. 4- Equity Healthcare is unequal. > Income affects access. > Racial and ethnic gaps are wide. > Resources are not evenly distributed. AI can analyze population health data to identify care gaps, predict community needs, and help organizations deploy resources where they'll have the greatest impact. 5- Health Outcomes Outcomes are poor. > Life expectancy is the lowest. > Preventable deaths are the highest. > Chronic disease management is weak. AI can transform reactive healthcare into proactive care by identifying at-risk populations, predicting potential health issues, and enabling early interventions. There's a lot of things AI can do. But it's not a silver bullet. It can't fix every healthcare issue. Fixing the system also means addressing policies, culture, and inequities that go far beyond technology. But progress comes when we focus on what we CAN change. By improving the systems we control, leveraging tools like AI, and staying committed to building a fairer, smarter healthcare system, we take meaningful steps forward. Better healthcare isn't about perfection. It's about progress, one step at a time. #healthcare #healthtech #technology #innovation #ai