The 2019 HCEG Top 10 List of Healthcare Challenges, Issues & Opportunities

2018 celebrates the 30^th anniversary of the Healthcare Executive Group – an organization dedicated to supporting and convening senior level executives focused on continuous innovation, evolution, and transformation of the healthcare industry. As part of our mission of promoting healthcare innovation, providing innovative knowledge support and helping to foster and sustain the development of life-long business relationships through real-life and virtual relationships, each year our members develop the HCEG Top 10 list of opportunities, issues, and challenges. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the HCEG Top 10 list of Challenges, Issues & Opportunities.

Healthcare Executives Identify Top Challenges, Issues & Opportunities for 2019

During our 2018 Annual Forum in Minneapolis last week, HCEG executive members from the payer, provider, and technology partner organizations voted on and ranked the Top 10 critical challenges, issues and opportunities they expect their organizations to face in the coming months and throughout 2019.

Starting with a list of 25 topical areas selected by HCEG Board members, advisors, and culled from leading industry research, 100+ forum participants held roundtable discussions over lunch to identify their specific table’s weighted top 10 items. The top ranking items from all tables were then combined to select the ten highest ranking items. Forum participants then ranked these items via a digital ranking process culminating in the official 2019 HCEG Top 10 list.

Our members expect the 2019 HCEG Top 10 items to have a significant and lasting impact in the way health plan members, health system patients, healthcare consumers, and other constituents all become engaged, digital consumers and responsible healthcare stakeholders in 2019 and beyond.

The 2019 HCEG Top 10 List

1. Data & Analytics: Leveraging data (especially clinical) to manage health and drive individual, provider and payer decisions.
2. Total Consumer Health: Improving members’ overall medical, social, financial, and environmental well-being.
3. Population Health Services: Operationalizing community-based health strategy, chronic care management, driving clinical integration, and addressing barriers to health such as social determinants.
4. Value-based Payments: Transitioning to and targeting specific medical conditions to manage cost and improve quality of care.
5. The Digital Healthcare Organization: HSAs, portals, patient literacy, cost transparency, digital payments, CRM, wearables and other patient-generated data, health monitoring, and omnichannel access/distribution.
6. Rising Pharmacy Costs: Implementing strategies to address the growth of pharma costs along with benefits to quality of care and to total healthcare costs.
7. External Market Disruption: New players like Amazon, Chase, Apple, Walmart, and Google.
8. Operational Effectiveness: Implementing lean quality programs, process efficiency (with new core business models), robotics automation, revenue cycle management, real-time/near-time point of sales transactions, etc.
9. Opioid Management: Developing strategies for identifying and supporting individuals and populations struggling with substance abuse/addiction or at risk of addiction.
10. Cybersecurity: Protecting the privacy and security of consumer information to maintain consumer trust in sharing data.

Highlights of the 2019 HCEG Top 10 List

Last year’s item #7 Healthcare Reform dropped out of the Top 10 but only by one place to number eleven. And last year’s tenth ranking item – The Engaged Digital Consumer – was supplanted by fifth ranking item The Digital Healthcare Organization.

New entrants to the 2019 HCEG Top 10 list include

#7 – External Market Disruption

#8 – Operational Effectiveness

Additional details and analysis of the 2019 HCEG Top 10 list will further explore the reasoning through facilitated discussions at upcoming events and within the HCEG digital community.

The Purpose and Value of the 2019 HCEG Top 10 List

The HCEG Top 10 List is used for two general purposes, each of which is intended to advance the healthcare industry’s move toward the Quadruple Aim of Healthcare.

#1 – Content Development & Programming

Serves as the basis for HCEG’s ongoing content development and educational programming opportunities throughout the year. Each of the Top 10 items is explored at various levels of depth and breadth throughout the year via:

• Blog Posts
• Executive Leadership Roundtable events
• Live Interactive Webinars
• Social Media
• Virtual Panels & Livestreams
• Weekly Newsletters
• Sponsor Partner Research

#2 – Development of The Industry Pulse

In addition to guiding the overall thought-leadership, content development, and knowledge exchange initiatives throughout the year, HCEG’s Top 10 list is used as the basis for The Industry Pulse, a research survey sponsored by the HealthCare Executive Group and our sponsor partner Change Healthcare.

The Industry Pulse research survey is designed to gather additional insight on priorities and challenges facing healthcare industry constituents across the country and provide stakeholders across the healthcare spectrum real-world, actionable insight into near-term obstacles and opportunities. Combined, the HCEG Top 10 list and The Industry Pulse encourage continuous and evolving dialog on the main issues and concerns facing member organizations. Learn more about The Industry Pulse here.

More About the 2019 HCEG Top 10

Over the coming weeks and months, additional original and curated content based on the 2019 HCEG Top 10 will be shared. And the 2019 Industry Pulse research survey will take place. To stay in the loop and to learn more about the 2019 HCEG Top 10 and the HealthCare Executive Group, visit this page on our website and subscribe to our newsletter.