When I first started working for public schools, people more knowledgeable than I were retiring. They told me they were getting out before new requirements became law. Citing changes in accounting regulations, testing benchmarks and special needs education, they wanted to get out before legislation would permanently change their working lives.
Since then, I found the pace of change raced forward each year at an ever-accelerating rate. Futurists tell us that jobs for which our kindergartners will vie have not yet been invented. We must develop curriculum for children when we can’t define the tools they will need in this brave new world.
Rapid change is not only occurring in education but also in healthcare. ACSHIC trustees look at healthcare in our community and work to prepare for changes on the horizon.
We will be challenged in 2019 when our regional academic medical center breaks away from our major health insurance provider. Adapting to this change will require new tools for choosing doctors and hospitals ranked high in quality at costs our families can afford. Luckily for us, the Pittsburgh area has great overlap between high-quality and reasonable-cost healthcare providers.
Websites will have to be enhanced to help us locate doctors and hospitals dedicated to giving us quality care covered by our insurance plans. Doctors available via electronic appointments will become more prevalent for our use during emergencies. Concierge medicine boasting a team of doctors working together to tend to the health and wellness of the whole individual will proliferate. As with future jobs not yet invented, interesting concepts to provide us better access to healthcare may currently be in the dream stage.
Our narrow networks challenge us to find high quality providers for specialized diagnoses within our health plan. Advancements in technology and partnerships around the country will be part of optimal solutions. We see these partnerships in Pittsburgh with Johns Hopkins and Mayo Clinic bringing us closer to top quality national care for specialized diagnoses. We must learn to utilize these partnerships.
Those of us charged with looking into new products must see the future and bravely face merging technology with quality care. One of the new technologies ACSHIC trustees are considering this year is a mobile app that can be used to provide physician care without a face-to-face appointment. We believe this is something our less tenured staff will demand (and some of us longtime employees, too). It may be especially useful for travelers and college students.
We are each challenged to embrace the positive aspects of change and use new products to develop a path to our preferred healthcare future. Many of you are early in your careers, so prepare for a wild ride as change becomes an integral part of your life. Begin to imagine possibilities of what you will do when change accelerates as you race toward your retirement date.
