By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    medicare part d benefits
    Everything that You Need to Know About Medicare Part D
    August 15, 2022
    Best Ways to Boost Your Immune System this Winter
    Best Ways to Boost Your Immune System this Winter
    November 15, 2022
    back pain issues
    Ways to Treat Constant Back Pain
    August 21, 2023
    Latest News
    How Probate Planning Shapes the Future of Your Estate and Family Care
    July 17, 2025
    Beyond Nutrition: Everyday Foods That Support Whole-Body Health
    June 15, 2025
    The Wide-Ranging Benefits of Magnesium Supplements
    June 11, 2025
    The Best Home Remedies for Migraines
    June 5, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    More On Wellness Programs To Improve Health and Reduce Costs
    January 25, 2012
    Privatizing Social Security and Medicare: Who Can Defuse Political Dynamite?
    June 12, 2011
    Study: Risk of Death in Elderly Patients with Dementia Doubled with Some Antipsychotic Medications
    February 26, 2012
    Latest News
    How IT and Marketing Teams Can Collaborate to Protect Patient Trust
    July 17, 2025
    How Health Choices and Legal Actions Intersect After an Injury
    July 17, 2025
    How communities and healthcare providers can address slip and fall injuries with legal awareness
    July 17, 2025
    Let Your Lawyer Handle the Work Before You Pay Medical Costs
    July 6, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Healthcare Predictions for 2013
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Business > Healthcare Predictions for 2013
BusinessNewsPolicy & LawTechnology

Healthcare Predictions for 2013

drkevin1951
drkevin1951
Share
11 Min Read
SHARE

 

 

First posted on The Fickenscher Files on 1/6/2013

My thoughts on the events and directions of the healthcare community in 2013 …

More Read

hearing loss
Prevention And Awareness Campaigns Seem to Fall On Deaf Ears
5 Things To Consider Before Buying Hospital Beds
4 Tactics for Easing Physicians into the Age of Digital Marketing
Caution Lights down the Track – UK Dismantles HIT Program
Kindred Healthcare Inc. To Pay $125 Million to Settle Allegations of False Claims

Before I go down the road of making predictions for 2013, I thought it would be useful to review my predictions for 2012.  Here is what I predicted and my assessment on whether or not we met the mark:

 

 

First posted on The Fickenscher Files on 1/6/2013

My thoughts on the events and directions of the healthcare community in 2013 …

Before I go down the road of making predictions for 2013, I thought it would be useful to review my predictions for 2012.  Here is what I predicted and my assessment on whether or not we met the mark:

  1. The Supreme Court will uphold the individual mandate – CORRECT
  2. The drumbeat for a move from volume-based to value-based care will get louder – CORRECT
  3. The backlash among the states at the growing cost of the Medicaid program will result in a serious dialogue on how to restructure the program over the longer term – CORRECT
  4. The economy will continue to slowly recover – CORRECT
  5. The use of social media by clinicians for interacting with patients will explode in the last half of the year –HALF CORRECT – while social media use has increased, “explode” is a powerful word and I would not ascribe it to the use by physicians.
  6. The health information technology industry will shift attention from the acute care setting to a focus on the electronic health record in the ambulatory setting – CORRECT
  7. Health systems will stumble on the road to Meaningful Use – CORRECT
  8. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will delay the deadline to upgrade to ICD-10 medical diagnostic and billing codes – CORRECT
  9. If Obama is reelected, healthcare reform will accelerate.  If the Republicans win the Presidency, healthcare reform will accelerate, but in a slightly different fashion – CORRECT
  10. The four dirty words of medicine are embraced by American medicine (There are four dirty words in American medicine: 1) Oversight – by anyone; 2) Transparency – of anything; 3) Standards – especially someone else’s; and, 4) Requirements – by any outsiders) – WRONG

So, my self-ranking would be an 85% correct prediction rate.  If you have other thoughts, let me know.  And, in the context of our current environment, what are my predictions for 2013?  Here are my thoughts:

  1. Congress will begin the debate on the future of Medicare and Medicaid funding by having serious discussions about moving away from the standard fee-for-service methodology used for the last half-century.  The unfortunate aspect of the Obamacare legislation is the fact that it did little to alter the reimbursement methodology aside from supporting innovative initiatives such as accountable care organizations, patient centered medical homes, bundled payments and other similar pre-payment methodologies.  The huge increase in demand for services that will be generated as a result of the Accountable Care Act moving into full implementation requires a renewed focus on payment approaches.  Increasingly, both sides of the aisles are putting forth ideas on how to alter the traditional fee-for-service methodology.  While the debate will begin in earnest in 2013, final approaches will not be more fully adopted until the end of the new Congress in 2014.
  2. With the fiscal cliff averted, Democrats and Republicans may finally engage in a more civilized debate that presents a “balanced” approach toward solving the long-term fiscal crisis of the United States.  The polls are clearly showing that both parties are “losers” in the impasse between Republicans and Democrats in solving any number of problems in America, including the long-term deficit.  The political extremes will lose ground in controlling the debate and the middle ground will gain some degree of respectability as a “place to be” for “solving” America’s major policy issues.
  3. The regime in Syria will fall in the first quarter of 2013.  With no international support, with no additional weapons and with no support from the Syrian people, the regime will topple.  However, in its stead a diverse array of political perspectives will step forward and it will take several years for stability to resume in one of the most important nations in the Middle East.
  4. The Surgeon General’s push for getting society to recognize the huge impact of obesity on the cost of healthcare will finally be embraced by the healthcare industry along with efforts to solve the problem through implementation of innovative programs by accountable care type organizations.The “Dance with the Surgeon General” initiative will be expanded with a more aggressive campaign to conquer the long-term problems related to societal obesity.  The negative social and healthcare economics of obesity will finally become more mainstream and serious debate will begin on creating incentives for Americans to reduce weight.
  5. Gun control legislation will be passed by the U.S. Congress to ban the sale of semi-automatic assault weapons, but the debate will continue because other steps for managing the purchase of guns will be stalled.  In the aftermath of the Newtown incident, Congress will implement the assault weapon ban but the public will demand further action on how individuals can purchase weapons of all types.  The problem is that there is no consensus on how to proceed so amidst the varied opinions, little progress on that front will be forthcoming although the debate will continue into 2014 when legislation is more likely.
  6. The debate on mental health programs and funding will increase in pitch, fever and rhetoric, but no new legislation will be forthcoming in 2013.  While the inadequacy of our nation’s mental health programs will be recognized, the solutions and programs which need to be implemented are less clear.  No clear leader will emerge in Congress who will champion the cause and without such a leader, efforts to transform mental health services will languish.
  7. A clarion call will be made by the health information technology industry to establish interoperability standards for electronic health records and health information exchanges to facilitate the sharing of personal health data among providers of care.  Members of the health information technology community will step forward with specific ideas on how interoperability standards should be implemented.  The deployment of HIT systems as a result of the HITECH Act will exacerbate the problem because they will finally understand the huge investment in electronic health records and other similar systems – while good – has not fostered effective communication of personal health information.  Lawmakers will begin demanding greater efficiency which will come from interoperability.
  8. Unemployment will finally fall and the economic recovery will finally gain steam in the latter half of 2013, which will drive improvement in the world economic order as well.  With the fiscal cliff averted, a secondary recession will also be averted.  As a result, the economy will continue its slow climb out of the fiscal ditch and finally move above ground in the latter part of 2013.  As the world’s economic engine, with the United States economy moving ahead at a more robust level, the rest of the world will also benefit.
  9. Five of the top ten fastest growing economies in the world will be from South America and Africa.  With a fast growing educated workforce (South America) and an incredible depth and breadth of natural resources (Africa), the two continents will see sharp increases in economic growth patterns among selected nations.  For Africa, those nations with some degree of political stability will see the greatest growth.  South Africa, which has been a dominant economic force, will face increasing internal strife because of the growing huge economic disparity between the upper and lower classes in the nation.  Expect riots and political turmoil in what has been perceived as a “stable” African nation.  For South America, the death of Caesar Chavez will precipitate a dramatic change in economic outlook for Venezuela as the political landscape changes precipitously.
  10. Because of global warming, the number of super storms will continue to increase dramatically throughout the year in 2013.  Since 1990, the United States has seen a 70 percent increase in the number of super storms (e.g. hurricanes, tornados, Nor’easters, etc.) that have affected the mainland and which have caused massive destruction.  The global warming patterns will continue unabated with the end result being even more super storms than we’ve seen over the last couple of years.  In fact, they will become more the seasonal norm!

Hopefully, I can do as well as this year with my projections although I hope I’m wrong on a couple of them …

The post Healthcare Predictions for 2013 appeared first on The Doctor Weighs In.

TAGGED:2013 predictions
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

Grounded Healing: A Natural Ally for Sustainable Healthcare Systems
How IT and Marketing Teams Can Collaborate to Protect Patient Trust
Global Healthcare Policy & Law
July 17, 2025
paramedics in surgical gloves and masks
How Health Choices and Legal Actions Intersect After an Injury
Health care
July 16, 2025
a woman giving a key
How Probate Planning Shapes the Future of Your Estate and Family Care
Health
July 16, 2025
a woman with kinesio tapes on her back arm
How communities and healthcare providers can address slip and fall injuries with legal awareness
Health care
July 16, 2025

You Might also Like

Is your business up and down!
Business

When Was the Last Time You Gave Your Practice a “Checkup”

July 19, 2012

Telemedicine: CY 2015 MPFS Reportage and Dangers of the Echo Chamber

November 17, 2014
ACA
Health ReformPolicy & Law

Some Big Health Plans Must Think Exchanges Will Succeed

September 26, 2013
The basics of getting health insurance
Global HealthcareHealth care

The Basics of Getting Health Insurance

June 2, 2022
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?