Zocdoc CEO Oliver Kharraz has some predictions about how healthcare will change in 2025 \u2014 including the rise of cash-pay services and the potential restructuring of Amazon\u2019s healthcare assets.
\nThe post Zocdoc CEO Predicts 3 Ways The Healthcare Industry Will Change In 2025 appeared first on Above the Law.<\/p>\n
This month, online healthcare booking platform Zocdoc<\/a> released an end-of-the-year report<\/a> detailing various trends in patient behavior. The report \u2014 based on data from the millions of visitors Zocdoc sees each month \u2014 noted things like an increased demand for sleep medicine specialists, a spike in mental health appointments during the summer, and a low rate of telehealth visits.<\/p>\n The report also included some predictions from Zocdoc CEO Oliver Kharraz about how patient behavior and the healthcare industry at large might change next year. Below are three of his most notable forecasts.<\/p>\n Most Americans with health coverage have been conditioned to seek care from in-network providers \u2014 but these patients often get blindsided by unexpected out-of-pocket costs, Kharraz pointed out.<\/p>\n \u201cGiven the persistent increase in both healthcare costs and high-deductible plans, it\u2019s no surprise that we\u2019re seeing more patients seeking guaranteed, upfront, transparent pricing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Kharraz thinks this trend will advance even further for things like prescriptions and longevity-focused diagnostics, such as bundled services like labs and MRIs.<\/p>\n He also noted that healthcare is becoming more and more consumer-driven \u2014 which means niche cash-pay services could become more popular.<\/p>\n \u201cFor example, we saw in our booking data that when patients chose to go out-of-network this year, it was largely for mental health, cosmetic treatments and dental care,\u201d Kharraz stated.<\/p>\n Over the past few years, leaders in the healthcare industry have seen tech and retail giants like Walmart, Apple and Google struggle to break into their uniquely complex sector. Amazon is no different \u2014 and Kharraz believes there is a good chance the company will significantly rearrange its healthcare offerings in 2025.<\/p>\n As a tech behemoth, it\u2019s rational to try and use your core competency to capitalize on the nearly $5 trillion healthcare spend in the U.S., he noted. For instance, Amazon has tried to leverage its retail strengths, Apple has tried to break through with its hardware capabilities, and Google has entered the sector with a data-first strategy, Kharraz explained.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail. But healthcare is hard to disrupt from the inside-out, and this approach has been unsuccessful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Amazon\u2019s healthcare efforts haven\u2019t been very profitable, and it is \u201cuntenable\u201d for the company to keep incurring hundreds of millions in losses, Kharraz stated.<\/p>\n \u201cI suspect 2025 will be the year that Amazon determines that they don\u2019t have the recipe to make in-person healthcare work, and managing healthcare providers is a very different business than managing logistics,\u201d he remarked.<\/p>\n He thinks Amazon will likely refocus on its pharmacy benefits, which are easier to scale than care delivery offerings.<\/p>\n More Americans will start using GLP-1 medications in 2025, the report predicted. GLP-1 supply issues are decreasing, so prices are coming down \u2014 meaning many Americans will gain access to medications that they couldn\u2019t afford in the past.<\/p>\n This will result in several downstream effects, Kharraz said. For example, he thinks payers will likely start to treat these drugs differently.<\/p>\n \u201cThere will likely be an evolution in their coverage, and we\u2019re already starting to see payers, including \u200bMedicare and Medicaid, receive pressure to expand access to weight loss drugs,\u201d Kharraz pointed out.<\/p>\n He also noted that compounders may be phased out. Compounders helped fill supply gaps when GLP-1 production was slow \u2014 but now that these drugs are more available, patients will choose less expensive, FDA-approved options instead of compounded drugs, Kharraz explained.<\/p>\n The increased adoption of GLP-1s will also cause some indirect effects, he added.<\/p>\n \u201cThere may be reduced demand for traditional weight loss medications, bariatric surgeries and possibly insulin therapy in some patients. GLP-1s may reduce obesity-related comorbidities like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and certain cancers. We are still in the early innings of seeing their impact on Americans\u2019 health and care delivery system,\u201d Kharraz said.<\/p>\n Photo: Getty Images,\u00a0AndreyPopov<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Zocdoc CEO Oliver Kharraz has some predictions about how healthcare will change in 2025 \u2014 including the rise of cash-pay services and the potential restructuring of Amazon\u2019s healthcare assets. The post Zocdoc CEO Predicts 3 Ways The Healthcare Industry Will Change In 2025 appeared first on Above the Law. 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