5 Truths About the Changing Health Landscape
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5 Truths About the Changing Health Landscape

What we heard on the ground at HLTH ‘24.
words:
Matthew Higham
Hannah Rosenfeld
Yicheng “YC” Sun
visuals:
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read time:
6 minutes
published:
November
2024

We dedicate a lot of our time to making healthier human futures, from working with healthcare providers to create a culture of innovation, partnering with pharmaceutical companies to create new drug delivery approaches, and co-creating new digital solutions with disrupters. There are few parts of the industry we haven’t touched. Why? Because few sectors offer so many possibilities for making a positive impact in people’s lives, if we can ask the right questions, and innovate our way to the right solutions.

Last month, we headed to HLTH to learn more about the trends, hurdles, and paradigm shifts companies, hospitals, and other care organizations are coming up against in this space. Here are some of the things we took away from our time on the ground.

1. Design can help us move beyond point solutions

Right now, we’re seeing a lot of standalone digital platforms tailored for different diagnoses, different age groups, and different patient populations. While this approach can better align with the way payments work in the healthcare system and result in more easily-proven health outcomes, it often feels like we’re reinventing the wheel over and over. You see this especially in mental health—solutions for youth, solutions for kids, solutions for employees, etc. Larger organizations across payers, medtech, and pharma, are starting to ask, “What is actually generalizable here?” And, “Can a connected experience better fit the patient's needs?” “Does everything have to be custom-built for every drug, every piece of equipment, and interventions?” That’s costly, not only to operate but also to sustain. Why don’t we already have frameworks that are broad but adaptable? With all the research and data we have, we could create a shared understanding that we can tune to fit specific needs. Theoretically, we have the data; we know what works and what doesn’t. There are systemic reasons—proprietary systems and data hoarding come to mind. But still, if we could create a more universal approach, we could make an enormous difference.

2:  We need to use AI to upskill healthcare workers, not replace responsibilities

The way we’re using them now, AI tools primarily aim to speed up workflows and improve operational efficiencies—whether it’s faster prior authorizations or streamlined documentation through AI scribes. But without careful implementation, these efficiencies could merely increase volume without enhancing care quality. Accelerating prior authorizations might lead to more requests and denials, rather than improved outcomes. Saving time on documentation might enable doctors to see more patients, but it doesn’t necessarily mean better patient interactions. We need to look beyond low-hanging fruit to achieve lasting impact. The industry must ask itself: Will widespread AI adoption genuinely drive health outcomes? And crucially, how do we encourage buy-in in a field where practitioners—trained over decades to rely on their own expertise—may resist technology-driven changes? At IDEO, we recently worked with a large payer organization to develop an internal AI strategy, focusing on how to foster acceptance across all employee levels. Building comfort with AI requires thoughtful design that respects existing expertise while gradually upskilling, rather than displacing, responsibilities.

A triptych illustration featuring medical pills. The left panel shows scattered red and blue pills, the center panel depicts a jar filled with similar pills, and the right panel highlights a single red and blue capsule.

3: “Practical innovation” may just be a buzzword

On the ground, we heard a lot about the challenge of sustaining innovation as budgets tighten across the healthcare landscape. Our conversations with people driving innovation at health systems and large organizations revealed not only budget cuts, but also a shift toward tactical, outcome-driven approaches. Organizations that we spoke with are increasingly looking to “practical innovation” to kick start their innovation cycle. Practical innovation in its original definition ensures a focus on commercial impact vs. innovation theater–a concept that we bring to each of the challenges we take on–but we shouldn’t allow the push for pragmatism to result in innovation falling into a trap. In this climate, innovation teams are expected to tie their work to key metrics prematurely, and reach scaled efficiency too quickly. This results in fewer bets, lower tolerance for risk, and a short runway to demonstrate outcome-focused results. Design has a crucial role to play in avoiding potential traps and increasing impact. For instance, by leaning into co-design and creating products alongside providers and patients, we can significantly de-risk innovative products and services. During our partnership with Kooth to create a mental healthcare app for youth in California, we worked directly with a youth council of 50 diverse young people to launch and validate a proof-of-concept, before then getting full investment for a state-wide launch.

A large crowd of attendees gathers in a conference hallway illuminated by vibrant red and pink lighting. The "hlth." logo is prominently displayed above the entrance to a large event space. Booths and banners in the background display text such as "Making. Healthier. Human. Futures." Attendees are engaged in conversations and networking, with some holding bags and wearing name badges. The atmosphere is energetic and professional.

4. Hospitals are recognizing their power as innovative forces in the healthcare ecosystem

Shaking off the antiquated image that they’re bureaucratic dinosaurs, hospitals across the country are setting their sights on innovation and beginning to think of themselves as engines of impact across the healthcare ecosystem. Whether that’s lending their space and access to incubate startups or giving their skilled medical talent the time and resources they need to conduct research and development activities, hospitals are eager to deploy their assets in new ways to unlock new value and drive exponential impact by improving healthcare experiences and outcomes.

A triptych illustration of an apple. The left panel shows a red apple on stacked paper. The center panel highlights the apple with bite marks revealing its core. The right panel depicts the apple eaten down to its core, with a single leaf remaining.

5. The time for good health is (always) now

Every year, we see, hear, and feel a sense of urgency around solving large, intractable problems, and every year we feel the collective disappointment that we are falling short of the progress we hope to see. Over the course of our week in Las Vegas, we spoke to thousands of people from across the healthcare ecosystem about novel ideas, genuine patient needs, product innovation, and promising new therapies. Each and every person wants to make an impact to improve the lives of those we serve—and it is true that we are seeing some remarkable progress. But good health remains elusive for many. We are working with clients in every corner of the sector to make good health a reality—innovating patient care, supporting carers to deliver on the purpose that drove their choice in vocation, partnering with life science companies to deliver innovative care to patients, and digital health companies to make huge leaps in how we deliver care. Our goal? To make healthier human futures a reality of today, not the hope for tomorrow.

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Matthew Higham
Partner
Matthew focuses on the use of design as a powerful tool for change in the healthcare sector. He partners closely with organisations to understand their needs and works tirelessly to build the right systems, approaches, and structures to translate these needs into superlative products and experiences.
Hannah Rosenfeld
Senior Director
As a senior design researcher, Hannah puts her innate curiosity, love for people and creative problem solving skills to work transforming compelling human stories into impactful solutions for (and with) her clients.
Yicheng “YC” Sun
Senior Director
YC helps lead IDEO San Francisco’s healthcare portfolio, specializing in building digital products and emerging technologies. He applies human-centered design in service of individual and collective wellbeing and is constantly thinking about how to bring healthcare ventures from ideation to market.
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