Is 2026 the year healthcare will open the digital front door?

Healthcare systems don't match consumer demands

Industry experts have heard it all before: patients want their healthcare experiences to match the experiences they have in retail or other service sectors.

"Consumers are saying, 'why can't I get my devices, my medicines, my treatment the same way I get services when I go shopping or when I do banking?'" Gebreyes noted.

Other industries focus on consumer wants and goals, she added, so why can't healthcare?

Take the digital health boom that happened during the pandemic. Healthcare organizations nationwide adopted digital technologies to allow patients to remotely access care.

Many organizations have scaled back those digital investments, but patients still want them, Gebreyes noted. Per Deloitte data, 90% of patients who've had a virtual visit said they'd have another. Meanwhile, about a quarter of patients said they'd change providers if a virtual appointment wasn't available.

A similar gap is emerging in AI use and adoption.

Deloitte data shows that nearly half of consumers are using generative AI, with healthcare being the primary reason for use. Although healthcare organizations are on the same page as patients in terms of valuing AI, only 15% of healthcare and life sciences companies said they've adapted their governance to allow AI to flourish.

This gap in consumer need and provider capability could be an expensive one, Gebreyes indicated, as the competitive medical industry operates on thin margins and depends on patient loyalty. To close the gap, healthcare leaders will need to assess how it opened in the first place.

Health orgs hampered by compliance, workflows

Healthcare organizations aren't blissfully ignorant of patient needs, nor are they blatantly ignoring them. Rather, they are strapped by the regulations that have long governed the medical industry, according to Gebreyes.

"Life science and healthcare organizations that are incumbents have survived by following the rules and regulations, by being compliant and also by optimizing business models to reflect how the ecosystem works today," she explained.

But sticking to the status quo will no longer serve them, Gebreyes added.

"Now consumers are saying, 'look, I understand that there is this healthcare economy that exists and that it's highly regulated, but what I want is convenience, access and affordability.'"

Healthcare and life sciences companies need to wake up to consumer expectations, Gebreyes urged. But even when they do, they should prepare for an uphill battle.

Take consumer demand for AI. Patients are using AI to help manage their health, and 66% of CEOs across multiple healthcare domains see opportunity in the technology.

But they can't fully adopt AI because there is a capability problem. In a previous Deloitte survey, 48% of life sciences and healthcare leaders said their boards lack representation in areas such as AI and data science. Others have mentioned limitations in population health and consumer behavior data.

Organizations need to upskill their boards, plus reconsider financial investments and the capabilities necessary to implement new consumer-facing technologies.

After all, Gebreyes said, opening up that digital front door is how organizations will be able to thrive in 2026.

Healthcare executives must reconsider the digital front door

Regulations, talent and workflows aren't problems organizations can solve overnight. But according to Gebreyes, it will be incumbent upon system leaders to rethink their digital front doors.

"The front door is no longer the medical office building and no longer the hospital. It's no longer even the retail pharmacy," she stressed. "There's a digital front door. Every organization needs to think about how to create a digital front door where people can access services, solutions, products and wearables in a digital way that can be asynchronous and act in patients' homes, at work, on vacation or at play."

The digital front door reached buzzword status years ago, as organizations prioritized consumer experiences in healthcare. As more technologies emerge to transform the digital healthcare experience, organizations will need to refocus on the digital front door to ensure it is seamless and unlocked for all.

But just because the digital front door has been opened doesn't mean consumers will enter, Gebreyes cautioned.

"It's really important to be an organization that is trusted by consumers," she emphasized.

Consumer trust is essential to everything from enabling patient data sharing to cultivating healthy patient-provider relationships. Organizations need to make sure consumers believe that they care about them, are reliable and consistent and can communicate in a transparent way.

Getting there will require organizations to consider how trust can be built with and through technology.

It will also begin with the board, Gebreyes noted.

"Whether it's upscaling your board members or appointing board members who understand technology, AI and cybersecurity, it's really important to figure out how to get the governance of any organization to support the management to make the decisions that they need to make for the future," she said.

That'll ultimately pay off in consumer loyalty. Indeed, organizations that have trust have over 2.5 times the patient loyalty that untrusted organizations have, Gebreyes said.

"There's a human and a caring imperative for trust, but there's a real business and economic imperative for building this trust, as well," she explained.

Gebreyes advised organizations to be extremely transparent about data, largely in order to compel patient data sharing. It's that data sharing that will enhance AI technologies to truly "come to life," she said.

Organizations should be clear about the data they're collecting, data ownership, how it's being used and whether it's being de-identified. Importantly, organizations must be mindful of health literacy when discussing AI with consumers.

Caring for the whole person

Gebreyes cautioned organizations not to forget about the patient outside the clinic or hospital.

"When we talk about consumers being the CEO of their own healthcare, we must keep in mind that one out of four consumers sacrifice the ability to afford groceries and out-of-pocket costs because healthcare costs are so high," she said.

There is not a great fix to high healthcare costs -- at least not one a single organization can implement -- but there is room for organizations to continue their investment in whole-person care and social determinants of health work.

"We, as life science and healthcare organization leaders, have to make sure that we're thinking about nutrition, physical health, mental health and social connection," Gebreyes concluded. "We need to look at the whole human being as opposed to the consumer just being somebody who's coming in to get clinical care or buy medication."

Sara Heath has reported news related to patient engagement and health equity since 2015.