The past two years have been anything but normal. Since the first quarter of 2020, Americans have been challenged by a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic and a series of economic shocks that arose from it. We’re still not anywhere close to the pre-pandemic equilibrium and probably won’t be for years, if ever.
This new reality — call it a “new normal” if you wish — has changed nearly every facet of our lives.
It’s a lot to talk about. For now, let’s focus on one area of American life that has undoubtedly changed forever: healthcare.
Americans’ healthcare needs were changing before the pandemic, but COVID-19 accelerated or accentuated the specific addressables we’ll discuss below.
1. More Responsive Management for Chronic Health Conditions
Approximately 40% of the U.S. population, or 133 million Americans, have at least one chronic health condition, according to data from the National Health Council. The Commonwealth Fund notes that this represents a chronic disease burden twice as high as the OECD (developed nations) average and contributes to lower life expectancies and poorer health outcomes relative to peer countries.
The U.S. healthcare industry must do better to identify and address chronic health conditions like obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. This effort will truly be an all-encompassing one that draws in medical specialists, primary care providers, healthcare administrators, and public policymakers — and forces them to think differently about the country’s chronic disease burden.
2. Better Access to Mental Healthcare
For a variety of reasons — some seemingly intractable, others with clear solutions — most Americans lack access to adequate mental healthcare resources.
Geographical disparities in care access are being addressed by providers like Oceans Behavioral Hospital, which has committed to building out care facilities in smaller communities underserved by the industry, and by a broader expansion of behavioral telehealth services. But more work needs to be done to reduce the stigma associated with mental healthcare, ensure that children and teens seek the care they need, and improve care quality for all.
3. More Comprehensive Support for People Experiencing Trauma
Not all patient populations receive relevant, responsive care. For example, Healthy People 2030 identifies children and adolescents who’ve experienced trauma as particularly likely not to receive or have access to the behavioral healthcare services they need.
It’s not just children and adolescents, of course. Trauma affects Americans at every stage of life, with far-reaching negative consequences. As with mental health issues more generally, the stigma around seeking support and care for past trauma remains pervasive in many communities. It’ll take an all-hands approach to change this.
4. Better Access to Primary Care
Of all the healthcare policy prescriptions on this list, better access to primary care — from childhood on — has the greatest potential to improve health outcomes across broad geographies and demographies.
Unfortunately, thanks to a complex constellation of factors, we’re falling well short of this objective. Lack of access to primary care (and lack of follow-up for patients who do have access
5. More Effective Early Diagnosis of Serious Illnesses
Better access to primary care can improve early diagnosis of serious conditions like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancers. Simply ensuring that more patients adhere to recommended screening intervals for common killers like lung cancer, breast cancer, and colorectal cancer, has the potential to save or prolong thousands of lives each year.
Primary care isn’t quite enough on its own, however. Public education is a big part of the puzzle for early detection efforts, and that requires a broader effort drawing in stakeholders from outside the healthcare community.
6. Managing the Cost of Essential Medications
The near-majority of Americans with diagnosed chronic health conditions are, by and large, paying too much for the medications needed to treat those conditions. This is a policy issue as much as a medical one — but it’s an issue that federal policymakers have tried to solve without success for years. If we want a different result, outside-the-box thinking may be needed.
A Better Future Awaits
It’s difficult to envision a brighter future when you’re in the throes of an unprecedented public health crisis. It’s even more challenging to do so when you’re not sure how long that crisis will continue — or whether it’ll ever really “end” at all.
Let’s allow ourselves to dream for a moment. We know that Americans’ healthcare needs are more urgent and more complicated than ever before. We also know what needs to be done to address them. If we can muster the will among private industry stakeholders and public policymakers alike, we can facilitate real, positive change for the most vulnerable among us.
It won’t be easy. It won’t be quick. And it won’t be restful — not what anyone wants to hear after the ordeal we’ve all been through.
But it’s necessary. And it’s possible. So let’s get down to work.
