Healthcare in Thoughts from the Centre
How MedTech companies will drive the future of health
By Karen Taylor, Director, Centre for Health Solutions and Michel De Ridder, Partner, Deloitte Belgium, Regulatory compliance
Last week my colleague Michel De Ridder and I participated in the annual MedTech Europe Forum 2021, where we delivered a presentation on our Deloitte Centre for Health Solutions research report 'Predicting the future of healthcare and life sciences in 2025: The future unmasked'. Our focus was on our sixth prediction 'MedTech and the IOMT are crucial drivers of value-based care'. However, we also discussed the implications of findings in our November 2020 research paper, ‘Winning in the future of MedTech’, underpinned by our global campaign on the Future of Health.i Following our presentation, we ran an ‘Ask the expert session’ to discuss emerging issues in relation to IP management. This week’s blog highlights the main themes that we discussed and explores the implications for MedTech companies’ role in the future of health.
Thriving after COVID-19: building an adaptable and resilient healthcare workforce
By Karen Taylor, Director Deloitte Centre for Health Solutions
Deloitte’s, 2021 global health care outlook: Accelerating industry change, explores the six critical foundational shifts driving change in the health care sector. These shifts, which have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, comprise consumers and the human experience; care model innovation; digital transformation and interoperable data; socio-economic shifts; public-private collaborations; and the future of work and talent. How governments understand and respond to these issues will shape their ability to navigate through recovery and thrive post-pandemic. Over the next couple of months, as part of our blog series, we will examine each shift in turn. This week’s blog considers the future of work and talent, starting with the challenges pre-pandemic, the impact of the pandemic and need for adaptable and resilient workforce for the future.
The role of genomics in shaping the UK’s public health response to COVID-19
By Emily May, Research Analyst, Deloitte Centre for Health Solutions
In March 2020, the UK government established the COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium (COG-UK) with an initial remit to contribute to the UK’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic by sequencing the SARS-CoV-2 genomes, identifying new variants of the virus, and combining this with clinical information to inform public health actions and policy decisions.1 To mark its first anniversary we explore some of the critical breakthroughs arising from COG-UK’s genomics research and how this is paving the way for a future in which genomics applications are fully integrated into public health.
Integrated Care Systems – establishing a patient centric health and care system
By Catherine Skilton, UK Public Sector Lead Partner for Integrated Care Systems and ConvergeHEALTH, Deloitte’s healthcare software products business
The shift towards a digital-first healthcare system has accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, demonstrating that, given the opportunity for better access, people will engage in new ways with their health and wellbeing services. However, while many individuals have developed a greater awareness of their health and taken meaningful steps to improve it, the pandemic has exposed, and potentially increased inequalities in health outcomes due, in part, to inequalities in access to the technologies, connectivity, and digital and/or health literacy needed to improve outcomes equitably. Moreover, for some individuals improving health and wellbeing may not be their top priority, so new ways of engaging people, grounded in behavioural science, are required to optimise engagement with different segments of the population.
2021 global health care outlook: COVID‑19 created challenges, continues to accelerate changes
By Dr. Stephanie Allen, Deloitte Global Health Care sector leader, Deloitte Australia
Every year Deloitte produces a report exploring the outlook for the healthcare sector. This year’s report, 2021 global health care outlook: Accelerating industry change explores the foundational shifts arising from and being exacerbated by COVID-19’s spread. Examples include consumers’ increasing involvement in health care decision-making; the rapid adoption of virtual health and other digital innovations; the push for interoperable data and data analytics use; and unprecedented public-private collaborations in vaccine and therapeutics development. Amid these dynamics, governments, health care providers, payers, and other stakeholders around the globe are being challenged to quickly pivot, adapt, and innovate. This week’s blog repurposes a blog by Stephanie Allen, our Deloitte Global Health Care sector leader, Deloitte Australia, which appeared first on our US Center for Health solutions Health Forward Blog site.
Start-up nation: The Future of Medtech is underway in Israel
By Glenn Snyder, principal, MedTech Practice leader, Deloitte Consulting LLP, and Arod Balissa, manager, Deloitte Catalyst | Tel Aviv
As we highlight in the six prediction of our report ‘The future unmasked, predicting the future of healthcare and life sciences in 2025’, MedTech companies have a critical role in driving the future of health, using transformative technology to enhance products and services, enabling 4P medicine and driving value-based care. Companies are also beginning to develop sophisticated data analytics capabilities and work more closely with end users to leverage AI and robotic technologies to improve patient outcomes. This week, we are sharing a blog by Glenn Snyder, Deloitte’s US MedTech Practice leader and Arod Balissa a manager at the Tel Aviv Deloitte Catalyst, in which they explore how MedTech is transforming health and care in Israel.
International Women’s Day: COVID-19’s impact on working women and how employers can help
By Krissie Ferris, Research Analyst, Deloitte Centre for Health Solutions, and Shivani Maitra, Partner, Human Capital, Life Sciences and Health Care
Monday 8th March was International Women’s Day (IWD), celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marked a call to action for accelerating women's equality.1 It also recognised that while the COVID-19 pandemic has had a detrimental impact on society as a whole, its impact has increased a number of pre-existing gender inequalities. Specifically, research suggests women are twice as likely as men to have lost their jobs, more likely to have been furloughed and have also been required to take on additional caring responsibilities.2 Women are also more likely work in industries that have been severely impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak.3 The theme of this year’s IWD is #ChooseToChallenge and in this week’s blog we explore how the voice of women can be used to challenge work and employment inequalities and create a fairer society.
Accessing cell and gene therapies – meeting the needs of rare disease patients
By Lukasz Kaczynski, Senior Manager, Monitor Deloitte Switzerland, and Patricia Gee, Director, Monitor Deloitte Switzerland
February 28 2021 is the 14th International Rare Disease Day. To mark the occasion communities from across the world come together to raise awareness among the public and policy makers about rare diseases and their impact on the lives of patients and families.1 Rare diseases are heterogeneous in nature, and geographically disparate, few are preventable or curable, most are chronic and progressive, and many are life-threatening. While there is no universal definition of rare diseases, in 2019, a comprehensive research study of the Orphanet database2 estimated that there are some 6,200 rare diseases affecting some 3.5 to 5.9 per cent of the global population, a total of approximately 263 to 446 million people. Around 72 per cent of these rare diseases are genetic with 70 per cent starting in childhood.3 Today, transformative cell and gene therapies (CGTx), with the potential to address and often eliminate the underlying cause of a genetic disease, bring hope to patients and families affected by rare diseases.
Integrated Care Systems – looking back and thinking ahead
By Stephanie Diller, Senior Manager, Public Sector Health Strategy
In 2019, our Integrated Care System (ICS) blog series set out key considerations and questions faced by NHS organisations as they responded to the Long Term Plan’s (LTP) expectations for every NHS organisation to form part of an ICS. However, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic the priorities of health and care shifted towards an emergency response, slowing the transformational progress of many organisations in forming an ICS. This blog builds on our previous insights, identifies learnings from the pandemic and explores the implications for ICS planning of the Government’s February 2021 white paper, Integration and innovation: working together to improve health and social care. More specifically, it identifies the barriers that need to be overcome and the challenges ICS stakeholders will need to address when designing and implementing the integration changes that are needed to improve population health.
Busting myths around 5G and exploring its applications in healthcare
By Krissie Ferris, Research Analyst, Centre for Health Solutions, and Cornelia Calugar-Pop, Manager, Technology, Media and Telecommunications
Last month, our colleagues in Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) released their 2021 predictions report, which highlights how global trends in TMT may affect businesses and consumers worldwide. One of the predictions, 5G is not hazardous to your health; Busting the radiation myth, addresses concerns that ‘radiation associated with the technology can cause cancer and weaken the immune system enabling COVID-19 to spread’. This blog explains some of the evidence presented in the TMT prediction to dispel these concerns while also exploring 5G’s potential in transforming healthcare.