As the healthcare industry moves closer to value-based care, there are a lot of projections about the changes that will occur in 2015. This article discusses seven of the top trends the industry is focused on: (1) physicians start to feel the financial impact of CMS’s rules; (2) the use of technology in healthcare is exploding; (3) financial viability is a key concern for CEOs; (4) reducing exposure to risk performance is becoming more important; (5) interest in population health management continues to grow; (6) outcomes improvements will continue to increase; and (7) collaboration between providers and payers will increase.

1. Top 7 Healthcare Trends
and Challenges From Our
Financial Expert
- Bobbi Brown

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Healthcare Trends From Our Financial Expert
1: Physicians start to feel the financial pinch from CMS’s regulations
Eligible physicians are starting to
feel the penalty phase of CMS’s
quality reporting and Meaningful
Use initiatives.
They also also need to comply with
CMS’s new Value-Based Payment
Modifier program, or face
penalties.
These new requirements are
overwhelming busy physicians,
prompting the AMA to ask for relief.

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Healthcare Trends From Our Financial Expert
2: Technological advancements are transforming the entire
healthcare industry.
The proliferation of new
technology in healthcare is
exploding in areas including:
1. Wearable Tracking Devices
2. Patient Centered Care
3. Increased Data Demands
4. Attaining Meaningful Use
5. Switching to ICD-10
6. Data Security

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Healthcare Trends From Our Financial Expert
3: Financial viability still a significant concern for healthcare CEOs
A main concern for hospital
CEOs continues to revolve
around the financial position of
their organizations.
Other concerns include new
CMS mandates and rulings,
population health management,
and personnel shortages.
Healthcare sectors will struggle
under the weight of negative
ratings and reviews.

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Healthcare Trends From Our Financial Expert
4: A new need to tolerate risk in a value-based purchasing world
Health systems have already
determined their tolerance for risk
and have started to implement
risk strategies to survive value-
based payment models.
If a hospital performs poorly in all
three programs (hospital-acquired
conditions, high readmissions,
and value-based purchasing), it is
at risk for a 5.5 percent reduction
during 2015.

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Healthcare Trends From Our Financial Expert
5: Interest in population health management will grow
There is much population health
management discussion with no
common definition.
We use:
A proactive application of strategies
and interventions to defined cohorts
of individuals across the continuum
of healthcare delivery in an effort to
maintain and/or improve the health
of the individuals within the cohort at
the lowest necessary cost.
Population Health Management

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Healthcare Trends From Our Financial Expert
6: Outcomes will continue to improve
A recent Modern Healthcare article
in presented improvements in
patient safety in U.S. hospitals. In
fact, approximately 1.3 million
fewer patients were harmed
between 2010 and 2013.
CMS’s emphasis on reducing
hospital readmission rates drove
down the all-cause 30-day rate
among Medicare fee-for-service
beneficiaries nearly 19.5 percent.

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Healthcare Trends From Our Financial Expert
7: Collaboration will increase
An important source for trendsetting
in the healthcare industry is the
annual JPMorgan Healthcare
Conference.
This year’s presenters showed how
partnerships and collaboration are
crucial to survive the shift to value-
based healthcare.
Examples: Joining forces with:
Sharing risk with:

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Healthcare Trends From Our Financial Expert
The End Goal: Creating Higher Value at Lower Costs
The healthcare industry is
striving to create a better
system that achieves higher
quality at lower costs.
The formula to get there is
simple: value equals quality
over cost. The effort required
to get there, however, is
anything but simple.

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Healthcare Trends From Our Financial Expert
Why such urgency?
The longer we wait, the more
difficult it will be to make changes
that will enable health systems to
survive the challenges.
And the more it will cost.
• There are 11,000 baby boomers aging
into Medicare daily.
• The U.S. population is about 320 million,
which makes 2015 “the first year
healthcare spending will reach $10,000
per person…” Forbes

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Link to original article for a more in-depth discussion.
Top 7 Healthcare Trends From Our Financial Expert

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Bobbi Brown is Vice President of Financial Engagement for Health Catalyst, a data
warehousing and analytics company based in Salt Lake City. Ms. Brown started her
healthcare career at Intermountain Healthcare supporting clinical integration efforts
before moving to Sutter Health and, later, Kaiser Permanente, where she served as Vice
President of Financial Planning and Performance. Ms. Brown holds an MBA from the
Thunderbird School of Global Management as well as a BA in Spanish and Education
from Misericordia University. She regularly writes and teaches on finance-related healthcare topics.