Why a Shift to Digital Patient Services is the Way Forward for Private Healthcare

Private healthcare in Australia and New Zealand has faced several years of upheaval and financial pressure. Confronting funding cuts and heightened competition, the industry must find creative, digital ways to adapt to a tough marketplace.

First, there is the funding issue. Each year, insurers present data and analytics to support a decrease in service rates, forcing private health organisations to accept a cut. Furthermore, private healthcare faces tough competition from the public health sector. Over the past few years, the government has made huge investments in public hospitals, creating state-of-the-art facilities and increasing digitisation. Some private hospitals, however, have underinvested in digital technologies.

Furthermore, we also see some surgeons now choosing to conduct surgeries for private patients in better-equipped and more technologically advanced public hospitals, which reduces the incentive for private patients to present at private hospitals. Indeed, the chief executive officer (CEO) of a private network told DXC Technology recently: “We compete in a public sector for staff, quality and services”. The pressure on the private sector is so great that one CEO told DXC, “We don’t need as many hospitals,” and others are calling for a new approach to managing private healthcare.