In recent years, digital health has experienced increased interest because more health providers adopt what was once considered a risky effort – or an unnecessary expenditure. But that decreases, in part because of the pressure on the margins.
“We get a lot of solutions looking for problems. We have very few people who want to understand our problems and challenges, then bring us a solution,” said John Courris, CEO of Tampa General Hospital.
Couris spoke with Yahoo Finance during the Vive Digital Health event in Nashville this week. He explained that hospitals think more intentionally where their digital investments will go after years to watch the industry develop. This has led to hundreds, even thousands, independent programs used and administered by health systems.
“So I will no longer manage hundreds of partnerships or even thousands of partnerships,” he said. “We are not going to do this. What we are going to do is find these partners who really want to understand our problems, who want to help us solve these problems, then have a very deep relationship.”
“I want fewer partners but deeper relationships,” added Couris, citing Ge Healthcare (Gehc) and Palantir (Pltr) as examples of good partners.
The struggle has been in preparation since last yearBefore the Trump elections, but should continue, because the industry expects to deal with a greater cash crisis in the light of the budget cuts. This includes Trump’s support for the Budget’s Budget invoice which would reduce the financing of centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
“There are many things that are done that will help our industry … I am optimistic about it,” said Couris. “But I also think that there will be policies and changes that will put pressure on our industry. You cannot balance the federal budget unless you treat with the CMS … All the roads lead to the centers of Medicare and Medicaid.
A big problem is that health systems often have a payer mixture which is strongly based on the financing of the government in the form of a medication. Indeed, in large part, the volume of the elderly who need health services is higher than the patient basin in plans sponsored by the commercial employer. Commercial insurance schemes pay better rates hospitals, but most of the reimbursements comes from Medicare – and are paid at a lower rate than it costs to provide care.
But if the funding of Medicare is reduced and the support of Medicaid to the States is reduced, it will reduce the income of the hospital. Even before the change in the political climate, hospitals were already concerned – and this had an impact on their ability to invest in digital health at a significant level.