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Becker’s Hospital Review, US: Cognizant Executives say ‘The Digital House Call’ Will Become Mainstream in Healthcare

“By 2020, the majority of [Healthcare] providers (78 percent) and payers (74 percent) believe the use of digital technologies will enable them to make more meaningful contributions to patients' lives,” write Robert H. Brown, Associate Vice President in Cognizant’s Center for the Future of Work, and Patricia Birch, Vice President, Healthcare and Life Sciences Consulting, Cognizant. “Further, more than half of providers (59 percent) believe they will collaborate better with colleagues, thanks to digital technologies and approaches, and a similar percent of payers (58 percent) believe digital will enhance work satisfaction." Excerpts:

"In an era when the far-reaching potential to improve how all of us – and our children – are treated, new approaches for work have never been more urgently needed to ensure lasting changes take hold. But, among healthcare payers and providers, this will require a major break with the status quo – and a major shift for an industry that has traditionally been cautious and even jaded about digital change.

Trends such as healthcare consumerism and personalization are driving the industry to master digital, in order to reshape and transform with the customer at the center. Digital duos like "the doctor and the bot" are changing the game for the future of work for healthcare providers. In fact, it's becoming increasingly the case that plugging diagnostic tools into a smartphone is the digital equivalent of "the doctor is in."

Crucially, new digital approaches are what's needed to help healthcare providers and payers drive down the costs of healthcare – and compete with new "born-digital" entrants. While so far, only about 25 percent of respondents have actually saved any money as a result of their digital initiatives, the cost picture for healthcare respondents does improve through 2018, as costs are expected to decrease by 2.4 percent — one of the largest decreases of any industry included in the study.

There is a far larger, untapped opportunity in cost reductions; companies are using software robots to decrease healthcare payer costs by as much as 90 percent for some middle-office business processes.

Sophisticated digital technologies are helping to drive down some of healthcare's highest cost categories – without sacrificing critical healthcare staff. This is a great development for all participants, as patients are empowered to concentrate on their personal wellness, while permitting caregivers to focus on caregiving.

On the revenue side, digital is also helping healthcare players compete with nontraditional competitors that offer completely new approaches to healthcare. Respondents expect digital to yield an 11 percent top and bottom-line improvement in 2018, which is double today's revenue impact of 5.2 percent. By 2020, 69 percent of healthcare providers and 73 percent of payers believe that 20 percent or more of their revenues will originate from digital channels."

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