Surname 1

Name

Instructor

Course

Date

Discuss three current trends/developments taking place in healthcare.

A healthy state is termed a wealthy nation. Healthcare plays a significant role in society

as emergencies arise, and individuals will get into accidents and illnesses. Two decades ago, no

individual in the healthcare industry could have dreamed of the advancement that individuals are

experiencing today. Individuals cannot overemphasize the role of health promotion and public

health in the provision of healthcare services. Contemporary issues influencing healthcare in the

United States would be identified and evaluated on international and national policy and issues

relating to practical responses. When graduating from medical school, students will be entering a

profession amid change. The current emerging trends in healthcare will be the standard price of

tomorrow. Technological advancement plays a significant role. Several trends are taking place in

the healthcare sector. This is not limited to advancements in technology that are reshaping

medicine practices, shifting to value-based care, and aging provider and patient population and

the need for team-based care, which offer opportunities and challenges for newly minted nurses.

The essay examines the trends in the health care system.

Some of the significant trends in healthcare include, first, telemedicine and telehealth.

This is one of the most significant and noted emerging trends in healthcare for the past few years.

Telehealth refers to the wide scope of remote healthcare services. For instance, a phone call

encompasses telemedicine, which entails delivering clinical services remotely (Martin). For
 Surname 2

instance, the American Hospital Association reported that 76% of the hospitals in the United

States reported using the telehealth system in 2020 compared to 2010, which had only 35%. It is

clear that telehealth plays a significant role in improving access for patients and individuals who

live far from the hospital or when they are demanding a specialist. With the advent of the 5G

network, telehealth is projected to become a more significant part of delivering healthcare

(David, p.553). This will be a significant part of the practice as a nurse, thus embracing it sooner

the better to take advantage of the benefits it offers. This includes making capitalization on the

opportunities of moonlighting to earn extra income.

The second trend is value-based and virtual care. Telehealth will be more significant due

to the movement of value-based models to the forefront. Meeting patients remotely has become

more efficient as it allows a nurse to devote adequate time to individuals with the most critical

conditions. Virtual care solutions will continue increasing across the continuum of care, from

telehealth visits to home-based care and virtual hospital care. At the start of 2020, about only 1%

of primary and Medicare visits were conducted through telehealth (van den Hoven et al., p.435).

However, the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic has increased the volume to approximately

43%. The growth has had a staying power in the healthcare sector as both physicians and patients

adopt the mindset of the new virtualization. It will be important for firms to align their virtual

care strategies with the evolving payment models, growth strategy and the changing needs of

their market.

The third emerging trend is an aging population. For the past decade, the population has

been greying, and older individuals are becoming regular users of healthcare services. The report

by the United States Census Bureau projected that by 2030, most baby boomers would be older

than 65-years. With the aging population, the median age is expected to increase by 43 by vision
 Surname 3

2065. Demand is increasing, but supply is contracting as the doctors are becoming old. Old

doctors of age between 55 and 64 years make up 27 per cent (McMaughan et al., p.231). The

Association of the American Medical Colleges predicts that the United States will experience a

shortfall of about 121,900 nurses and physicians by 2032.

In conclusion, in the present unprecedented times, the healthcare system and hospital

boards should focus on preparing for the future. Individuals expect the continued disruption to be

the pathways and norms to success, which increasingly depend on scaling, digitization,

innovation and collaboration. There are emerging trends in technology that influence the

operation and services offered by healthcare systems. The trends such as advancement in

technology, telemedicine and telehealth, the introduction of value-based care and aging

populations are playing an outsized role in reshaping the practices in the healthcare sector. The

trends tend to offer opportunities and challenges for the doctors who are newly minted.
 Surname 4

Work Cited

David, Yadin. "Telehealth, telemedicine, and telecare." Clinical Engineering Handbook.

Academic Press, 2020. 550-555.

Martin, Geoffrey. Top 10 emerging trends in healthcare for 2021: the new normal. (2021).

Accessed from. https://trustees.aha.org/top-10-emerging-trends-health-care-2021-new-

normal

McMaughan, Darcy Jones, Oluyomi Oloruntoba, and Matthew Lee Smith. "Socioeconomic

status and access to healthcare: interrelated drivers for healthy aging." Frontiers in

Public Health 8 (2020): 231.

Van den Hoven, Allard T., et al. "A value‐based healthcare approach: Health‐related quality of

life and psychosocial functioning in women with Turner syndrome." Clinical

endocrinology 92.5 (2020): 434-442.