What Trends Can We Anticipate as Digital Capitalism Reshapes Healthcare?

Thedigital revolution entails the application of digital technology to all types of human enterprise.Capitalism is a system whereby the means of production are privately or corporately owned; development occurs through the accumulation of investment and profits gained in a free market. Healthcare is obviously one of the major business sectors in the U.S., accounting for nearly 18 per cent of the GDP and thus a major focus for investment under capitalism (see:Health Care Spending in the United States and Other High-Income Countries).Digital capitalism is the process by which digital technology is used in an industry such as healthcare to improve the quality of care and reduce human work input to enhance the quality care and profits. This note will briefly focus on the consequences of digital capitalism in healthcare.There have been two recent significant financial changes that have occurred in healthcare. One of them has been the increased number of M&A's involving large healthcare systems (see:Hospital Merger and Acquisition Deals Got Bigger in 2018). This pursuit of mega-corporation status has been fueled by a quest for fiscal and operational efficiencies. Another financial trend has been the purchase and consultation of urgent care facilities by venture capitalists and private equity firms (see:Why Private Equity Loves Retail Healthcare;Private equity infuses healthcare with $63B investment). The most recent and significant trend in healthcare digital capitalism has...
Source: Lab Soft News - Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Electronic Health Record (EHR) Healthcare Business Healthcare Delivery Healthcare Information Technology Hospital Financial Medical Consumerism Predictive Analytics Source Type: blogs