The Transformative Opportunities in Healthcare Post-Pandemic
The challenges facing the healthcare industry today are not entirely new; they have been ongoing. Financial sustainability has always been a struggle, and the pandemic has intensified this issue. Rising costs, the retirement of experienced professionals, and increased demand from an aging population are converging to create a perfect storm. This landscape highlights the urgent need for transformative change in the healthcare system. Just as the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake prompted significant infrastructural shifts in San Francisco, the tragedy of COVID-19 may catalyze innovation, allowing us to rethink our healthcare system to prioritize accessibility, efficiency, and improved patient care.
Listen to Narinder Singh and Eric Yablonka discuss the evolving challenges and opportunities in the future of virtual care within hospitals.
Video Transcript
Eric Yablonka:
So I think this problem is not a new problem. It’s always been a challenge on the financial side to make enough money to invest both for capital and organizational needs. So I think it’s sort of been an ongoing problem, but what’s really changing is post pandemic costs their way up. People have retired out, a lot of nurses and physicians have retired out. And also with boomers like me coming out of the workforce, you can see just the rapid demand and the lack of access for so many people. So this is going to be all of those things, plus others are going to drive huge changes in the healthcare system and we need a lot of that work to be happening now, to be ready for that.
Narinder Singh:
You have a picture of San Francisco behind you and I think about a story of the lmo Preta earthquake in 89 basically decimated large parts of the highway that overtook downtown. But without that earthquake, we would never have been able to systemically change what the downtown looks like. There would’ve been a highway and a freeway structure. And so I think that’s one of the optimists or the glass half full is that the tragedy of covid hopefully allows us to see new paths forward.