The pandemic of 2020 upended our lives and created a new normal for how we go about our daily lives. As we emerge from that time, what have we learned? How have we adapted? And what have we changed? As human beings, we desire a semblance of predictable normalcy in our lives. So working in a hybrid environment is now expected. Shopping online every week rather than just around the holiday season is normal. Telehealth visits with our clinicians are now routine. All of that has changed, but there is much that has not.
Our care continues to be episodic, and variation in treatments with disparate outcomes continues. And we are unprepared for the next shock to our healthcare system. Can we not work together to fashion a redesigned, data-driven approach so that we can take on the next pressing health matter – whether climate change or opioid abuse or adolescent obesity, or even another pandemic in stride?
We continually try to tamp out diseases – for example, diabetes, hypertension, and obesity, rather than take bold steps to prevent them. In Hamlet, Shakespeare wrote:
If we are to embrace a new healthcare normal, let us do so by seeking a systemic remedy for our healthcare processes. Let us use fresh, new problem definitions accompanying possible solutions deployed with powerful technology-based tools and techniques.
I look forward to your thoughts, so please submit your comments in this post. And subscribe to my weekly newsletter, “What’s Your Take?” on DocsNetwork.com. Thanks for your time today.
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