The Future of Health Part I: 5 Ways Forward

At Marathon Health, we look for innovative ways to create and provide a modern healthcare experience. During the pandemic, we studied the impact the pandemic was having on healthcare and looked for opportunities to use what we learned to improve healthcare at our centers and offer insights for improved healthcare overall. We began by looking at three significant disruptions to healthcare that occurred as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic:

1. Healthcare resources diverted to the pandemic response
2. Unmet healthcare needs increased, especially for chronic conditions, elective procedures, and preventive tests
3. Primary care access decreased.[i]

The pandemic has highlighted the need to improve underlying health conditions as patients with chronic disease have realized a much greater rate of morbidity and illness severity.[ii] Sadly, while the need to support patients with chronic health challenges is more important than ever, supporting these patients has become more difficult due to access limitations.[iii]

The approaches we’ve used to support employee populations offer a path forward for an integrated employer-driven care delivery model. The pandemic can be a positive turning point for our broader healthcare system – setting higher expectations and providing better solutions. Throughout the next few weeks, we’ll discuss five specific imperatives derived from Marathon Health’s COVID-19 experience:

1. Proactive population health monitoring and outreach.
2. Expanded access to care.
3. Enhanced and integrated occupational health.
4. Active patient navigation and care coordination.
5. Integrated behavioral health.

This is the first of a series of blogs on this topic. Each week we’ll be diving into one of these imperatives and giving insight into what we’ve learned from our experience. For a sneak peek of what’s to come, check out our whitepaper, “Employers Pivot from COVID-19 Pandemic to Create Integrated Care Model of the Future” written by Bruce A. Hochstadt, M.D. & Lawrence J. Morrissey, J.D.

[i] https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/2020/apr/impact-covid-19-outpatient-visits

[ii] https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/people-with-medical-conditions.html

[iii] https://www.ajmc.com/view/chronic-disease-management-in-the-covid19-era