5HEALTHCARE INSIGHTS

from the UPS Healthcare Forum

Each year, the UPS Healthcare Forum brings together industry leaders and logistics experts to discuss the state of healthcare, healthcare logistics, and wider issues affecting the industry —from innovation to legislation. The most recent Forum was held in Naples, Fl., from June 8–9, 2016. Here are the top five takeaways from the event’s presentations and panel discussions.

1The new health economy is here, and it’s driven by consumers.Like it or not, there’s a new health economy, with new rules based principally around changes in reimbursement, how the value of healthcare services is assessed, and the consumerization of the patient population. New technology enablers, new point-of-care venues, and new products (especially those that connect via smartphones) are enabling patients to gain more insight into their conditions and make decisions for themselves outside the four walls of traditional care facilities.

New opportunities, consequently, are everywhere.

Data and connectivity are changing everything.Healthcare is generating more data than ever before, and how it is used and how it interacts is changing the face of the industry. And the data giants with the huge research budgets may be best placed to succeed with new products and services in this new era. One PwC analysis of basic services that are provided today in hospitals or clinical settings, suggested that these new entrants could take about $65 billion in the U.S. in terms of healthcare revenue by providing the same services differently.

Healthcare appears set make a giant leap forward.The emergence of nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, gene editing, robotics, and 3-D printing may have put healthcare on the brink of a period of rapid advances. Scientists are already using organic nano-carriers to deliver chemotherapy drugs straight into brain tumors.

Companies such as IBM and Google are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on artificial intelligence research. So-called “crisper” gene editing, gives scientists a “word processor for genes.” So, now it is possible to copy, paste and insert genetic components with more ease, more precision, and at significantly lower cost. In robotics, scientists are testing fully autonomous robotic surgery. And in 3-D printing, a California company can print liver tissue, so the effects of drugs on liver tissue can be assessed without human testing.

The rate of innovation has never been higher.Change and innovation is being driven most intensely by consumers who have those smartphones in their pocket and who bring the same expectations of transparency, ease of use, and clarity around value from the world of apps to the world of healthcare.

The entrepreneurs that may win in this space are those who understand that the user is no longer just a patient, but they are also a consumer. Plus, consumers in this space expect to be met on their terms — a new and challenging proposition for traditional healthcare companies. 4

The Affordable Health Act has benefited patients, but presents challenges. Panelists from the pharmacy, medical device, medical supply, and care provider sectors on the UPS Healthcare Forum’s Leadership panel agreed that the Affordable Health Act has benefited American patients. However, continuing problems in recruiting the desired risk pool means that not enough healthy people are coming into the exchange so the population that has engaged forms, collectively, a higher-risk pool that need more care — and is expensive to care for. 5

Navigating the future of healthcare takes more than foresight.It takes a supply chain built with collaboration and integration woven deeply into its foundations. UPS can help, with solutions built for an era of high expectations: protecting your product, keeping ahead of compliance demands, and wired to take advantage of emerging opportunities. That’s staying future ready, while delivering today on patient care and profitability.

Learn more about UPS’s healthcare capabilities