Health care systems struggle with staffing issues, delayed patient care
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Delayed patient care is among the significant factors contributing to the “health care crisis” in the United States, according to a recent report from Sage Growth Partners, a business management consulting firm.
In addition to high rates of delayed care and canceled appointments, Sage Growth Partners CEO Dan D’Orazio pointed to “the tremendous impact that clinical staffing shortages and a lack of health equity are having across the industry.”
“To address challenges such as these, it will take the full cooperation of the entire healthcare ecosystem to solve,” he said in a press release.
The report was based on survey responses from 100 hospital leaders, conducted in July.
Overall, 67% thought that Americans are less healthy now than before the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, they believed that more than half of patients (57%) are delaying annual wellness visits, while 46% felt that patients are delaying primary care follow-up visits for chronic conditions and 45% are delaying cancer screenings.
To address these delays, 75% of hospital leaders said that organizations are increasing phone and email outreach — encouraging a return to routine care — while 64% are utilizing telehealth visits and social media campaigns.
Although telehealth can increase accessibility to care, 51% of survey respondents said their organizations do not invest in technologies to deliver remote care. Additionally, only 15% said that investments into remote care technology was “extremely important,” while 26% reported that telehealth is among the top five technology initiatives for their organization over the next 2 years.
The barriers that leaders said are preventing successful remote care implementation include:
- a lack of reimbursement (74%);
- patient adoption (58%);
- a lack of return on investment (56%);
- budget constraints (51%); and
- physician buy in (47%).
Regarding the implications of delayed care, 22% of respondents said that health acuity will be a long-term effect, while 17% pointed to advanced disease presentation for care or late-stage diagnosis and 12% answered increased morality.
In terms of the greatest challenges facing health care systems, 77% of respondents pointed to workforce resiliency. Meanwhile, 61% listed staff recruitment and retention as their top priority in that same time frame. According to previous estimates from the American Hospital Association, there is a projected shortage of up to 3.2 million health care workers by 2026.
“With patients being boarded in the ED for days before being admitted and primary care appointment wait times as long as 6 months, the decline in health of Americans will only worsen,” Sage Growth Partners chief strategy officer Stephanie Kovalick said in the release. “Better leveraging technology to ease staffing burdens and increase access is paramount for us to provide better and needed care. In the face of a recession, urgency is even more important.”
References:
- America’s health care crisis – Health systems prepare to be tested like never before. https://sage-growth.ftlbcdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/C-Suite_MarketReport.pdf. Accessed Nov. 28, 2022.
- Fact sheet: Strengthening the health care workforce. https://www.aha.org/fact-sheets/2021-05-26-fact-sheet-strengthening-health-care-workforce. Accessed Nov. 28, 2022.
- New report provides data and insights on America’s health care crisis. https://sage-growth.com/index.php/news/americas-healthcare-crisis-c-suite-report/. Published Nov. 15, 2022. Accessed Nov. 28, 2022.