By Eric Wicklund for HealthLeaders
Are consumers having an ‘I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more’ moment?
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The healthcare industry is struggling with a variety of concerns, including cost and quality issues, a depleted workforce and skyrocketing stress and burnout.
- New technologies are helping consumers to take command of their healthcare data and take more control of their healthcare journey.
- Healthcare leaders need to get in front of innovative ideas like virtual care, digital health and AI to meet consumers where they want to be met and give them the care they’re demanding.
What’s keeping healthcare innovation executives up at night?
Many challenges. But one of the chief concerns is the potential (or perhaps the threat) of an empowered consumer, armed with their own health data and demanding AI-enabled care at the time and place of their choosing.
“By the end of this decade,” warned Anthony Chang, MD, MBA, MPH, MS, Chief Intelligence and Innovation Officer at the Children’s Hospital of California, you will be sued for malpractice for not using a portfolio of AI tools.”
Health system executives like Chang, Highmark Health President and CEO David Holmberg and ChristianaCare President and CEO Janice Nevin, MD, MPH, were on hand Wednesday at the CES 2025 Digital Health Summit to gain some insight into the latest in consumer technology, but to understand how that will affect the healthcare industry. And their prime focus was on their patients’ dissatisfaction with the state of healthcare.
“We’ve got to move things forward,” said Holmberg, “and find a way to meet people to treat people where they’re at (and to) treat people as consumers.”
That’s a tough task for a healthcare industry that, Nevin pointed out, “isn’t traditionally very adventurous,” and which has taken decades just to get doctors and nurses on the same page. But the industry as a whole is in crisis, buffeted by workforce shortages, quality and cost concerns and a growing number of disruptors looking to replace the traditional care routine. Healthcare leaders need to recognize the driving forces shaping the industry and adapt to those changes.
CES offers those executives an opportunity to see where consumer technology is headed, and to understand the new ideas that are driving change. Alongside the ever-growing digital health space in the Venetian’s exhibit hall was an even-faster-growing space dedicated to the smart home. Combined, those platforms showcased a future where consumers will have more data on their environment and their health at their disposal, alongside more tools to track, analyze and improve their life journey.
Holmberg, taking note of those new technologies, said healthcare needs to “innovate its way out of” the mess it’s in. That means creating, fostering and embracing scalable tools and technologies that can take healthcare out of the hospital and doctor’s office and into the home.
Healthcare leaders are under pressure to improve the consumer experience, and they’re using tools like virtual care and digital health to improve care delivery. Those tools also aim to improve provider workflows and tackle the ongoing epidemic of stress and burnout that are contributing to declining workforces.
AI will in many cases shape that environment, and it’s being seen as a critical part of the healthcare journey as well—for both consumers and providers. Some see a future where AI could replace the doctor or nurse, while others say the technology will assist providers in making the best use of data.
Nevin, taking note of the healthcare industry’s reluctance to embrace change, said she’s worried “that we’re going to lose this moment in time.” She called on the industry to do a better job at collaborating, sharing ideas and data and knocking down the silos that create care gaps and frustrate consumers.
“We tend to point the finger at each other” she noted, rather than working with each other.
Not everyone agreed on the need for collaboration. Eli Lilly And Co. CIO Diogo Rau noted that competition might be a good thing.
“There has been a lot of collaboration in the industry that has worked against consumers rather than for consumers,” he pointed out, drawing applause from the packed audience. “I want to see more competition there to bring down the cost of medicine and the amount of healthcare.”
When asked about the future of healthcare, Rau envisioned an industry focused more on prevention and wellness that proactively treating diseases. Holberg envisioned an industry able to manage the incredible amounts of data coming in and creating care maps for consumers. And Nevin saw smaller, more focused hospitals, fewer hospital beds and an industry focused on meeting consumers where they want to be met.
But will the industry move fast enough in that direction to placate a growing consumer population—especially seniors and those with chronic care needs—that’s dissatisfied with the current state of care? Will consumers demand change?
At a separate panel on the future of AI that included Chang, Stephen Klasko, a former president and CEO at Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health who’s now an executive in residence with General Catalyst, said he’s surprised that consumers haven’t yet had a “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more” moment.
“My car gets better care than I do,” he quipped.
And that’s where AI might move the needle. But the industry has to overcome its concerns and move forward quickly.
Chang, noting the lack of healthcare providers in the audience and at CES in general, said the industry needs to embrace AI, rather than worry about the potential for mistakes or overuse.
“AI can absolutely be the equalizer,” he said. But “it pains me how much resources are being wasted because we’re [looking to solve] the wrong problems.”
“One of the biggest threats that we have is misunderstanding the technology,” added Jake Leach, Dexcom’s Chief Operating Officer.
Laura Adams, RN, a senior advisor for the National Academy of Medicine, part of Kaiser Permanente’s Institute for Health Policy, said the healthcare industry is nearing a tipping point where consumers will have more experience with AI than their doctors and nurses. Healthcare providers need to keep up, she said.
“The revolution is very much underway,” she added.
Eric Wicklund is the associate content manager and senior editor for Innovation at HealthLeaders.
