Emerging Trends in Healthcare Delivery: Disruptors & Alternate Testing Locations

The only certainty in the healthcare industry is change. Change often comes quickly, uprooting traditional processes to pave the way for something new and exciting. This is how disruption happens.

Organizations like CVS Health, VillageMD, Amazon, Optum and Adelade are creating retail-based primary care locations, virtually reshaping the physician market. While some of these disruptors acquire physician practices and employ physicians, others work on a contract basis to provide independent practices with support for IT, marketing and administration.

disruptive technology in healthcare

The impact of consolidation isn’t just affecting the medical industry – it's also affecting medical sales. Sales reps are finding that it's no longer one or two decision-makers within a medical practice and, as a result, are having to adjust their approach with customers. Bruce Penning, executive director, medical field sales for Henry Schein said, “They need to understand the alignment further ‘upstream.’”¹

In this blog, we will explore how industry disruptors and the growing shift towards alternate testing locations are transforming the healthcare delivery system.

How Disruptors are Transforming Healthcare Delivery

Transformation in healthcare comes through large-scale change to meet the needs and expectations of the local population. Innovative ways of delivering health services, such as new models of care and tech-based solutions, can improve the quality and efficiency of care if appropriately implemented. Transforming service delivery means engaging with multiple actors, including their different interests and interactions. Combining top-down bottom-up initiatives throughout the process can help.²

Retail health clinics aren’t anything new. Retailers have been testing out care delivery models with in-store health clinics for two decades, and now they are major players in the healthcare space.

These medical clinics, located in drugstores, supermarkets, and other retail settings, got their start providing convenient access to affordable, nonemergency care for a limited range of health conditions, including minor illnesses like ear infections. With extended weekend and evening hours and walk-in appointments, retail clinics offer a level of convenience that traditional doctor’s offices usually can’t match.³

The Convenience of Alternate Testing Locations

Alternate testing locations provide patients with the convenience and quality of care that they need, while meeting them where they are. For example, mobile clinics offer flexible and viable options for treating isolated vulnerable groups and newly displaced populations. Organizations like The World Health Organization deploy mobile clinics and medical teams to reach people cut off from access to health services. For many people these mobile clinics and teams may be the only source of healthcare they have. ⁴

Mobile clinics are well-recognized for their ability to improve access to health care, especially in marginalized communities. Numerous studies show that they improve health outcomes and reduce health care costs. There is also evidence that mobile health programs that deliver preventive health care reduce societal costs associated with premature disability and death.⁵

Not only do mobile clinics have a positive impact on the patient population, but they can also bolster efforts to recruit, train, and retain staff. Mobile clinics offer trainees, physicians, and other staff opportunities to put their ideals into action. While many health care professionals chose their career because they wanted to help people, their day-to-day work may not fulfill that desire. Working at a mobile clinic in close contact with the community often brings inspiration and job satisfaction.⁶

The Impact on Patient Outcomes and Healthcare Efficiency

The COVID-19 pandemic illuminated the challenge and importance of identifying emerging health issues and generating a quick response. Mobile clinics can work as the eyes and ears of the healthcare system in their communities.

New data from Mobile Health Map impact tracker shows that obesity-related screening and counseling is the second most common service provided by mobile clinics. Many clinics also screen for diabetes with the goal of identifying people who don’t know they have the condition. The Family Van, a mobile clinic in Boston, reports that 41% of their clients had higher than normal blood sugar levels despite having never been diagnosed with diabetes.⁷

They are also a critical health service during events like natural disasters. Recently, organizations like Novant Health deployed mobile care clinics to the communities effected by Hurricane Helene to offer urgent care services, including connections to obstetric and pediatric care, as well as a mobile pharmacy.⁸

Mobile clinics also have significant fiscal opportunities for patient communities. In a community health survey by Attipoe-Dorcoo et al., the types of healthcare services provided by 49 MHCs were recorded and an estimated mean cost range per patient visit was calculated to be lower than the standard costs for Medicare beneficiaries obtaining the same services at an institution. Community-level utilization of MHCs created a cost-savings environment in the form of reducing the number of avoidable emergency department visits.⁹

Perhaps most importantly, patients have reported that mobile health clinics serve as a platform to help them navigate the more convoluted systems of the wider healthcare structure and connect them with the medical and social resources in their community. In many contexts, mobile health clinics play an integral part in a healthcare system, providing accessible and sustainable care with quality that matches traditional healthcare settings.¹⁰

As these trends continue to shape the future of healthcare, providers need to be prepared to navigate these changes and improve operational efficiencies. SEKISUI Diagnostics is committed to supporting these trends with innovative and adaptable diagnostic solutions, ensuring high-quality care in a variety of healthcare settings.

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