Executive Summary In 2024, healthcare consumers continue to expect top-quality, empathetic, and compassionatemedical care.1But there’s also an urgent need to align with the World Health Organization’s(WHO) holistic definition of health and push for what’s been called, “health equity.” Indeed, “The Yet even while everyone has a right to high-quality healthcare, “roughly half of healthcareconsumers across six countries say the system doesn’t care about people like them. There’s alsoa lingering divide between doctors and their patients over quality of care, with doctors almost Together, TP and TrendzOwl emphasize three key ongoing developments: Providers Aim toOptimize People-BasedCare for High Stakes Pharma and LifeSciences Push toInnovate Tech & People Payers EmbraceTransformation In response to agingpopulations and decliningbirthrates, as well asuncertainty and pressureson revenue models, healthsystems across the world areseeking to innovate, withpharma and life sciencescompanies turning todisruptive technologiessuch as generative AI. Butorganizations will need to Healthcare payer margins areunder pressure and there’s anongoing reexamination of costmodels and avenues of growth.In fact, there’s a completereevaluation of the underlyingcapabilities that enable payersto achieve their goals. Yetpayers must not neglect thepreferences of human beings Healthcare providers areleveraging digital tools tohelp consumers navigatetheir healthcare journey in ahighly personalized manner.From treatment plans topatient communicationpreferences and lifestylechoices, the momentum istoward hyper-personalized Background At a time of rapid change, among the challenges healthcare systems face, cost remains a majortheme in 2024. But cost concerns also are lending momentum to transformation initiatives. Inother words, “Healthcare leaders are navigating a difficult cost landscape, but opportunities likegenerating value from data are emerging as potential solutions to drive revenue amid challenges But there’s another significant challenge for today’s healthcare systems—a workforce that’s ina state of flux. Consider the case of the United States, where “More than half of health systemexecutives (57%) expect talent shortages and workforce challenges will impact their organization’sstrategy in 2024—down from 68% a year ago. Many health system executives are trying to attractand retain clinical staff while continuing to focus on reducing clinician burnout. At the same Such dynamics are compelling organizations to innovate. Joy Liu, the cofounder and CEO ofPlenful, which provides workflow automation and AI for healthcare operators, looks at the UnitedStates workforce and suggests that, “Continued healthcare labor shortage and employee burnout(e.g. recent strikes) will increase investment in innovative technologies across both clinical andnon-clinical functions.”9Others agree. “2024,” claims digital services firm West Monroe, “will bring Continued healthcare laborshortage and employee burnout willincrease investment in innovative Payers: A Need for People-Based Models Amidst Transformation on it. We still have a lot of manual reportdeliveries, manual processes, and manualvalidation tools. We want to decrease ourapplication stack, and automation is a driverof that.”12It’s therefore no surprise that,“Nearly 72% of surveyed payer executivessay cost optimization is one of their top This general backdrop certainly speaks to thesituation healthcare payers find themselvesin. Payer margins are under pressureand there’s an ongoing reexamination ofcost models and avenues of growth. Infact, there’s a complete reevaluation ofthe underlying capabilities that enablepayers to achieve their goals because, three priorities. 49% consider integratingcutting-edge tech to be among the top threepriorities. 51% say member engagement is asubstantially significant area of investment.”13 After all, technology has yet to change theoverall channel preferences of customers.Consider that when Teleperformance, in its2024 Global Insights Survey asked, “Have therecent developments in genAI precipitateda shift in the customer support channels?”The answer was, "No." “Despite technological No wonder that for payers, transformationis the order of the day. As one CTO at aprovider-sponsored health plan put it, “Akey for us will be streamlining our processesusing both technology and AI to help drive Nearly 72% of surveyedpayer executives say costoptimization is one of Providers: Optimizing People-Based Care for High Stakes Conversations Yosi Health puts it, “Healthcare providersare harnessing technology to deliverhighly personalized care. This extendsbeyond treatment plans; it encompassesunderstanding patient communicationpreferences, lifestyle choices, and individual Nonetheless, the pursuit of digitaltransformation continues and is essentialfor healthcare providers as well. As NICEpoints out, “Healthcare providers areusing AI-driven digital-first technol