Trends for the Future of Health Care.

• Author: BRUCE, DOUG

The changes in health care over the past 100 years have been vast. Advances in science and technology have led to cures and treatments that no one would have dreamed possible at the turn of the century. Yet, this evolution is far from complete, and there are still unlimited opportunities for change during these times of fast-paced competition and rapid growth.

There are some changes and advances that won't be seen until far into the future, and others that are emergent and just around the bend. Rather than try to predict a limitless future, we at Providence Health System in Alaska like to concentrate on those things that are just on the horizon and ready to emerge. These are trends that will shape us in the next five to 10 years, and which require our immediate attention as we strategically plan our future.

There are three key trends that will impact us the most in the near future: consumer demands, government regulation and legislation, and operational and strategic issues.

The number one trend for consumers is a heightened demand for quality care. It is no surprise that health care consumers are expecting higher quality service from their providers, in part because they are so much better informed about key health care issues than they were in the past. This is in large part due to the technological impact of the Internet on our daily lives. And this has led to a tremendous increase in the number of health care consumers who are becoming quite sophisticated in how they go about choosing their health care providers. Consumers are not just relying on the word of their friends, relatives or physicians anymore; they are using reports from companies who comparatively rank the quality and service of hospitals nationwide. Because of this, virtually every hospital has implemented processes that measure patient satisfaction and continually work to improve the quality of their services with ongoing programs and surveys.

The second key trend for consumers is their increasing desire to collect information, and stay informed, about the health care issues they are faced with every day. As with every other sector of the American economy, health care consumers are turning in droves to the Internet and to other sources of information to keep abreast of rapid changes in the field and to collect the information they need to make decisions about their health care needs. They are also expecting their providers to make use of this emerging technology to keep...