A comprehensive approach, meaningful digital engagements, and improved experiences will be instrumental in making an impact on major industry challenges

TailorMed, a leading financial navigation technology company that helps patients and healthcare organizations remove financial barriers to care, today unveiled its forward-thinking industry predictions around healthcare cost, affordability, and patient experience for 2023 and beyond.

Soaring healthcare costs, coupled with rising inflation, continue to challenge patients and the healthcare system as a whole. One in five U.S. adults reported that they would be unable to pay for high-quality healthcare if they needed it. As more patients are unable to afford care, hospitals and health systems face increasing levels of uncompensated care and bad debt. At the same time, pharmacies struggle with lost revenue due to prescription abandonment. These challenges compound the financial problems many healthcare organizations have faced in the wake of the pandemic.

TailorMed and its executives understand healthcare affordability’s widespread impact across all stakeholders. Key themes and trends they are closely following for 2023 include:

Bigger picture: the need for a comprehensive approach to a multifaceted problem

Affordability has significant ramifications across the entire healthcare ecosystem. While prior efforts to address this challenge have been largely siloed and reactive, healthcare leaders now seek a proactive, all-encompassing approach to reduce patient financial responsibility.

“Healthcare costs won’t fall in 2023. In fact, they will likely increase and pose a bigger financial burden for patients and healthcare entities alike. As a result, we will see even greater downstream consequences. We’ll likely see providers taking on more uncompensated care, health system staff experiencing more burnout that will challenge care delivery, and pharmacies struggling to dispense medications. The impact of affordability is far-reaching – and it requires a comprehensive solution. A network-driven, technology-powered approach can bring together all affected parties to ensure patients have the financial resources they need.” – Srulik Dvorsky, CEO and Co-Founder

“Healthcare affordability has long been a challenge solved one patient at a time. In 2023 and beyond, the healthcare industry has the opportunity to harness available technology, data, and analytics to proactively examine patient populations and drive affordability at scale. Breaking down silos across sectors – providers, health systems, pharmacies, and life science companies – will be key in drastically changing the industry’s approach. As a result, we can expect to see a range of healthcare entities implementing technology to proactively address affordability in a holistic way. We all must do our part to help as many patients as possible afford care – because we can and we should.” – Vince King, Chief Commercial Officer

“Providers will come under increasing pressure to demonstrate that they are doing their part to improve affordability. One way to stay ahead of this pressure is for provider organizations to look for ways to proactively address medical debt. For non-profit health systems, in particular, that could mean offering patients financial assistance earlier in their medical journeys before they face bills they cannot pay. This will help address medical debt by avoiding it in the first place. Those same organizations should also broaden the roll-out of digital solutions to identify patients at risk for medical debt, then automatically match and enroll them in relevant financial resources.” – Ian Manners, Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Life Sciences

Patients first: prioritizing patient engagement and experiences

In the era of consumerism and digital transformation, patient expectations have shifted. There is mounting pressure across stakeholders to deliver meaningful digital engagement and positive patient experiences.

“The pandemic heightened patient demand for digital engagement – and in 2023, healthcare leaders will lean into the digital acceleration, identifying new avenues to connect with patients and amplify the patient experience. There will be a learning curve as the industry finds a healthy balance of how to engage patients and when. Patients need the right data at the right time to take the right action – whether that is filling out automated intake forms or engaging in the billing process following care. Aligned incentives across healthcare stakeholders will be critical in this process, working to improve care coordination and delivery. The more successful healthcare is at engaging with patients digitally, the more the industry can ask consumers to take an active role in their own care, and the greater momentum we’ll see next year and beyond.” – Vince King, Chief Commercial Officer

“Today, patients want the same convenient, customer-centric experience they’ve come to expect from other service sectors. Technological innovation is one way the healthcare industry can adapt to the opportunities and challenges healthcare consumerism presents. For example, financial experience is a critical component of a patient’s overall experience with a provider or pharmacy. Technology solutions hold enormous potential to ease the patient’s financial journey, particularly when it comes to securing financial assistance for their treatment. In 2023, we’ll see healthcare industry leaders leveraging solutions with the greatest promise for reducing patients’ pain points, building patient loyalty, and ultimately, boosting their organizations’ financial health.” – Srulik Dvorsky, CEO and Co-Founder

To learn more about the TailorMed platform, please visit: https://tailormed.co/platform/

About TailorMed:

TailorMed offers the nation’s largest network of patients, providers, pharmacies, partners, and life science companies focused on ensuring all patients across all medical conditions can afford treatment. Driven by TailorMed's best-in-class platform, network constituents can proactively identify, match, and enroll patients in financial assistance programs to deliver a world-class patient financial experience while reducing the cost of care delivery and increasing revenues. TailorMed’s secure, web-based financial assistance solutions are deployed across more than 1,000 sites of care, including Providence Health, UnityPoint Health, Yale-New Haven Health, and Advocate Aurora Health. To learn more, go to tailormed.co.

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