Healthcare is changing like never before.

And we don’t need to look far to see why. Problems caused or exacerbated by the pandemic, most notably staffing shortages, have combined with an aging population and high levels of chronic disease—and the associated rising costs—to produce a perfect storm for healthcare organizations.

When we dig into the statistics, the picture is even more compelling. “Healthcare Trends,” a webinar hosted by Gridspace, set out to examine the data-driven evidence with guest speakers Forrester VP Research Director Natalie Schibell, Senior Analyst Shannon Germain and Analyst Kyle Rybarczyk.

According to figures from the Association of American Medical Colleges, we can expect to see a shortage of between 38,000 and 124,000 physicians by 2034 across both primary and specialty care. Conversely, the number of older adults living in the US is steadily increasing. The total number of adults aged 65 and older is projected to hit 85.7 million by 2050—roughly 20% of the overall US population.

People of all ages are experiencing significant health problems. Six out of 10 adults in the US have a chronic illness, while four out of 10 have two, or even more.

We’re also facing an epidemic of rising healthcare costs, now eclipsing $4 trillion per year. Shannon highlighted how a significant fraction of this total is being drained by hospital costs. “Hospital expenditures composed almost 32% of 2019’s $4.1 trillion health spend. It’s a third,” Shannon told viewers. “That’s incredible…The system as we know it has reached a critical tipping point in the management of clinical practices for hospitalized patients.”

Shannon went on to add: “The 20-year trend of rising hospital expenditures is expected to continue—unless, of course, there’s a solution.”

Gridspace automated AI is bringing tomorrow’s solutions to some of the world’s largest healthcare organizations (HCOs) today. Let’s consider prior authorizations, just one example of a costly, time-consuming task taking trained healthcare staff away from their patients. HCOs still using manual processes to complete these transactions are committing high volumes of staffing hours with little to show for them.

Physicians and their staff report spending around two full business days a week completing prior authorizations (PAs), according to the American Medical Association. On average, practices complete 41 PAs per physician every week, while 40% of physicians reported employing staff to work exclusively on this repetitive task.

Gridspace Grace is the virtual agent providing a seamless and cost-effective solution. Grace provides insurers with all the information required to process authorizations, in the same way as a capable human nurse or administrator.

It’s estimated that administrative costs such as these take up a quarter of that staggering $4.1 trillion healthcare spend, according to Forrester analyst Kyle Rybarczyk. When asked by Gridspace CEO Evan Macmillan for his assessment of where other efficiencies might most easily be made, he targeted call center costs. “The low-hanging fruit would be patient and customer services, which account for about 10% of that. This includes things such as call centers and messaging. With solutions for this, I believe the prediction is that we could reduce spending by $40 billion a year.”

Discover more about the dawn of a new era in healthcare: View Navigate Top Consumer Trends and Prepare for the Future of Healthcare, featuring Forrester Research.

And experience for yourself how Gridspace Grace is transforming healthcare with efficient, cost-saving solutions. Talk to Grace today.