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At this time of the turn of the year, many only want one thing: to check off the pandemic year as quickly as possible.
And a look ahead to the New Year without Corona.
This wish will not come true.
The vaccinations promise the gradual farewell to Corona and the associated social restrictions.
But the virus has its own answer to that.
Mutations that make us doubt it again.
Even after the pandemic has subsided, the changes it causes will be sustainable.
For our societies as a whole, but also for the healthcare sector.
The corona pandemic has basically not really brought any new insights into our health system.
The issues are not new, but they are now calling for a solution
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All in all, we have so far been able to cope with the crisis well.
The healthcare system is efficient.
But we are not well connected.
The division of labor between the outpatient and inpatient sectors is more traditional than efficient.
Some colleagues even call for more government intervention and funding.
Others advocate an ethically responsible organization.
Some ask the crucial question between higher insurance premiums or taxes on the one hand and more efficient structures on the other.
The topics are not new due to Corona, but have become clearer and call for a solution.
That's what it's about: outpatientization, supply networks, digitization.
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Some of the treatments that we perform inpatient today can just as easily take place on an outpatient basis.
Corona has shown us even more clearly what we have known for a long time from the health systems of our European neighbors.
In the future, we will treat patients who were previously treated as inpatients as outpatients.
We are not yet well prepared for this.
Neither in the structures nor in the financing.
Outpatientization requires geographical and medical care networks - in which regional competence centers for certain treatments are set up at the hospitals, supplemented by inpatient emergency and basic care as well as outpatient care centers and a prominent involvement of resident colleagues.
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All parts of this whole must operate in a tightly networked manner and be financed in a remuneration system adapted for these integrated supply models.
Greater digitization of medicine will promote and accelerate this.
This not only applies to the exchange of data between the departments, for example to be able to transfer patients seamlessly and without wasting time.
Telemedicine will also play an even stronger role - such as the video consultation hour.
And finally, in the future we will also provide digital therapy, be it digitally supported rehab therapies for at home, be it the close and digitally coordinated exchange between the specialists for chronic diseases.
Francesco De Meo, member of the Fresenius Management Board responsible for the Fresenius Helios division
Source: Fresenius Helios
Another accelerated area: the evaluation of disease and treatment data using big data and artificial intelligence.
This allows diagnoses to be made more precisely and the therapies to be modeled in a personalized manner.
It is precisely with this care data that a more well-founded assessment can be made as to whether certain diagnoses should be treated better on an outpatient or inpatient basis, thus closing the circle.
The year 2021 may herald the end of the pandemic, probably make it easier for us to deal with Corona in a social context, but in any case be the year for the beginning of any transformation.
It would have come without Corona, but now faster and more consistently.
“We” are the responsible actors in politics and the health system
It will strain our society and finally demand clarity from our health system for some directional decisions.
We can all ensure that such a transformation does not overwhelm people.
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“We” are those who are responsible in politics and in the health system - with a significant share of the private health industry, which will make its contribution to making health care sustainable.
Francesco De Meo, member of the Fresenius Management Board responsible for the Fresenius Helios division