Definitive Healthcare Highlights Impact of COVID-19 in 2020 Healthcare Trends Survey

FRAMINGHAM, Mass., Aug. 28, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Definitive Healthcare, the leading provider of data, intelligence, and analytics on the healthcare provider market today released results from its 2020 Healthcare Trends Survey. Amidst the COVID-19 landscape, Definitive Healthcare polled more than 2,300 healthcare leaders ranging from pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries to healthcare IT, consulting, payer, provider organizations, and more to determine (1) which trends they felt will have the greatest impact on the healthcare industry in the next year and (2) in what areas telehealth will have the greatest staying power. Here are the results:

2020 Healthcare Trends
1. Loss of Revenue in Hospitals: At 36.5%, respondents saw loss of revenue in hospitals as the most crucial area of change in the year ahead. Many US hospitals have already seen revenues impacted due to delayed or reprioritized non-emergency medical procedures and elective surgeries.
2. Implications of Delayed Care: With about a quarter, 24.4%, of the votes, those surveyed saw the implications of delayed care as an important 2020 trend. Fear of the COVID-19 virus has caused many high risk and chronic disease patients to avoid preventative and critical care, which could result in serious health implications for patients.
3. Increased Telehealth Usage: Another trend collected a quarter, 23.2%, of the votes, with respondents predicting increased usage of telehealth technologies. Already this year, telehealth adoption has increased by 4,000%, with the greatest amount of growth in the Northeast.
4. Decline in Commercial Insurance Enrollment: As a result of rising unemployment rates, many Americans lost health insurance coverage through an affected job. As 2020 continues, 10.3% of survey respondents said that they expect this to continue to be an area of impact.
5. Mounting Elective Surgery Backlog: While still important, only 5.6% of respondents saw the mounting elective surgery backlog as an important trend in the year ahead. During peak COVID-19 months, elective surgeries declined as much as 95%, and according to Definitive Healthcare data, cataract and knee-replacement surgeries will be the first to bounce back first as states begin to re-open.

"Definitive Healthcare's recent COVID-19 research studies revealed that 40% of organizations indicate that they are at risk of closure – particularly in smaller organizations," said Jason Krantz, CEO of Definitive Healthcare. "While major metropolitan hospitals have been hit with the highest volumes of coronavirus patients, rural hospitals had been struggling financially since long before the viral outbreak hit its stride. For these rural hospitals, COVID-19 is making an already bad situation even worse. Any amount of additional financial loss could put these vulnerable hospitals in a near-critical state."

Telehealth Staying Power
1. Routine Care for Chronic Conditions: Over half, 54.9%, of survey respondents indicate that telehealth has the most staying power for routine care for patients with chronic conditions. As these patients may have co-morbidities to their chronic condition, they are likely in higher risk categories and could benefit from reducing the number of in person, face-to-face visits.
2. Cold/Flu/Infectious Disease Screening: With 14.6% of votes, respondents indicated that cold, flu, and infectious disease screenings are likely to continue in the years to come to prevent infection spread.
3. Mental and Behavioral Health: 14.4% of respondents indicated that mental and behavioral telehealth visits will likely remain an important and convenient tool for both therapists and patients.
4. Post Hospital Discharge Follow-Up: During COVID-19, providers have been conducting virtual visits with discharged patients but, with only 7.7% of votes, respondents did not see this telehealth trend as something that will likely continue in a post-COVID landscape.
5. Post-Surgical Care: With only 3.5% of the votes, respondents did not see post-surgical care as an area with a great deal of staying power. Post-surgical care may require a more personal touch and careful inspection, relative to other types of provider visits.

"In 2019, telemedicine was already moving into focus, but now we are really seeing providers implement these virtual tools in their practices as a result of COVID-19. In one of our recent webinars, our claims data revealed a correlation between regions with increased surgeries/patient volumes and spikes in COVID-19 cases. Naturally, telehealth and telemedicine will be key to reducing unnecessary in-person visits," continued Jason Krantz.

A more in-depth look at these 2020 healthcare trends can be found here.

About Definitive Healthcare
Definitive Healthcare is the most comprehensive and accurate source for data insights and analytics on the healthcare provider market. Its product suite provides the most comprehensive and highest quality data available anywhere on 8,800 hospitals and IDNs; 135,000 physician groups; 1.7 million physicians, nurses, and allied health professionals; 11,000 ambulatory surgery centers; 15,800 imaging centers; 85,500 long-term care facilities; 40,000 clinics; 1,800 ACOs and HIEs; and 5.7 billion medical commercial claims covering 315 million patient lives. The company's data provides its 2,500 clients with the analytics and insight needed to effectively segment and research the healthcare provider market. Definitive Healthcare is backed by 22C Capital, Advent International, and Spectrum Equity. For more information, or to trial the service, visit https://www.definitivehc.com/.

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SOURCE Definitive Healthcare