The Healthcare War: What the Future Holds for Healthcare Stakeholders
Using healthcare as leverage in international relations and global business has put an end to modest profit and patient-centrism. This has caused disputes between governments, businesses, and insurers, who must soon address the three biggest challenges to secure a future for patients worldwide.
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Future years will bring a whirlwind of patient-related issues for contemporary medicine, including healthcare costs, artificial intelligence (AI), and a showdown between patient rights and regulatory approval.
To remain resilient, competitive, and fair, healthcare providers, insurers, and biotech companies are urged to stand ahead of these developments. Read up on these issues in this Pacific Prime article.
The Reasons Behind the Healthcare Pricing Tug of War
The price of routine doctor visits, hospital stays, and drug prescriptions is becoming exorbitantly more and more expensive worldwide, resulting in an increasing number of insurers pulling out of regional markets to ensure their operational survival.
This issue is caused by a pricing war among biotech companies, providers, and insurers. Today, the key entities that drive pricing are manufacturers that produce drugs, wholesale distributors that sell these drugs to consumers, and insurers that aim to provide coverage for these drugs.
Underneath the bracket of the pricing war are key factors that fuel the complex negotiations between the entities, such as clinical research and development costs, patient protection and market exclusivity, regulation, supply chain, and demand for high quality.
Clinical Research and Development Costs
Partnering with and conducting clinical research with a CRO in a highly developed country is expensive. Despite the allure of conducting clinical research in less developed countries as a cost-efficient alternative, they too come at significant costs and a lengthy approval process.
Patent Protection and Market Exclusivity
Pharmaceutical companies often hold patents for their drugs, granting them exclusivity in the market for a certain period of time. During this period, they can charge higher prices to recoup their R&D costs, especially in clinical trials, resulting in higher prices for brand-name drugs.
Varying Levels of Regulation or a Lack Thereof
Various countries and regions have begun bolstering their regulations as a means of protecting consumers and ensuring the stability of their public healthcare. Coupled with a lack of regulation, global insurers are faced with the challenge of plan pricing.
In response, insurance companies and brokers around the world are banding together to provide more affordable and stable healthcare at lower premiums while taking into account the various regulatory conditions in specific regions.
A Complex Supply Chain
Drug producers, wholesalers, distributors, and retailers all play a role in the pharmaceutical supply chain. The drug’s total cost rises as each link in the supply chain tries to make a profit while covering its own costs. As a result of geopolitics, this will continue to take center stage.
A Skyrocket in Demand for the Best
There is more pressure on healthcare systems and greater costs for patients and insurers due to the increasing number of people, the older population, the frequency of diseases, and the technological advancements in medicine that continue to define contemporary medical practices.
A Doctor’s Love-Hate Relationship with AI
While people have acclimated themselves to the advent of AI in their personal and professional lives, the AI revolution has led to widespread concern among doctors, who struggle with self-diagnosing patients.
Today, physicians are faced with difficult patients who tend to self-diagnose using generative AI tools, seeking suggestions from these apparent tools prior to meeting with a doctor, and, in the worst case, coming to a conclusion by themselves on the prognosis of their conditions.
AI should be used as an assistive tool to help speed up and simplify the detection of diseases, claims processes, and client services. While the tool has the potential to provide useful suggestions, it was never meant to obstruct healthcare professionals who have a duty to treat patients.
Patient Rights and Regulatory Approval
As more and more countries grapple with the notion of abortion rights, which tie directly to women’s rights, the healthcare sector must continuously assess the sudden shifts that may occur, setting a precedent for other novel medical practices that have never been used before.
That which was once not legal will soon require authorities to impose reasonable regulations so that patients can choose what is right for their health conditions. As more patients become independent in their decisions, the healthcare sector too will have to adapt.
An example would be the United States, where more than 60% of Americans support legal abortion, showing a strong transition towards patient-centric decision-making and placing patient rights at the top of their priorities in future Supreme Court rulings.
While the example of the United States highlights the evolving attitudes towards abortion rights, it is also the duty of healthcare stakeholders around the globe to engage in international dialogue so as to ensure the provision of medical services that aim to save and improve lives above all else.
As a result, healthcare stakeholders must take into consideration and uphold the following:
Patient-Centered Care
Patient-centered care is a fundamental principle in healthcare. As patients have the right to make informed decisions about their own bodies, healthcare providers should respect their autonomy and provide non-judgmental, compassionate care.
This includes the following:
- Holistic Support: Providing comprehensive counseling addresses emotional, psychological, and physical aspects of medical treatment, ensuring patients feel supported throughout the process.
- Cultural Sensitivity: Recognizing and respecting diverse cultural backgrounds and beliefs enhances trust and communication between patients and providers.
- Privacy Assurance: Maintaining strict confidentiality encourages patients to seek care without fear of stigma or personal information breaches.
Ethics Above All
Necessary medical treatment and personal beliefs can be at odds, such as during abortions or blood transfusions. It is important to strike a balance between respecting the rights and beliefs of healthcare providers and ensuring that patients have access to the care they need.
This includes the following:
- Beneficence and Nonmaleficence: Healthcare providers must act in the best interest of patients, ensuring that services are safe and do not cause harm.
- Justice in Access: Ensuring equitable access to services regardless of socioeconomic status upholds the ethical principle of justice in healthcare.
- Professional Integrity: Providers should adhere to ethical guidelines, balancing personal beliefs with professional responsibilities to deliver unbiased care.
Spreading Awareness and Education
Education and public awareness campaigns play a crucial role in shaping attitudes and understanding around medical rights. It is important to provide accurate information about the safety, legality, and importance of access to medical treatment.
This includes the following:
- Community Engagement: Collaborating with community leaders and organizations can disseminate accurate information and normalize conversations about controversial medical procedures, such as abortion.
- Policy Advocacy: Educating policymakers on evidence-based research supports the development of informed legislation that protects patient rights.
- Youth Education: Implementing comprehensive health education programs in schools empowers young individuals to make informed decisions about their health.
Looking Ahead to a Better Future
As global healthcare continues to evolve along with challenges and positive technological developments, it is important to uphold a balance between profit, patient-centric outcomes, and patient rights.
This enables expatriates and travellers around the world to move and live freely while keeping their medical costs covered at affordable premiums. Furthermore, fostering a balance of profit and care can create unity among brokers, insurers, and providers, ensuring a healthier global population.
Pacific Prime is an award-winning global insurance brokerage and employee benefits specialist that offers international health insurance and corporate insurance solutions. Our brokers can help guide and recommend the right health insurance plans based on your budget and personal needs.
For more information, compare quotes on our system, or contact us.
Upon graduating from Mahidol University International College’s International Relations program, he spent his career in marketing and business development, working for an international subcontractor, a marketing research firm, an international news agency, a software development company, and a creative agency. His journey now continues at Pacific Prime, where he hopes to make an impact by simplifying insurance and writing a gargantuan amount of SEO articles to draw in billions of leads.
In his free time, Piyanat is an avid martial artist and musician, spending most of his time at boxing gyms in Nakhon Pathom and music studios with his friends in the music industry.
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