lOMoAR cPSD| 63316909
1
Running head: CURRENT HEALTHCARE TRENDS AND IMPACTS
Sydney Schultz
Western Governors University
Service line Development - AMT2 Task 3
April 1, 2024
, lOMoAR cPSD| 63316909
2
CURRENT HEALTHCARE TRENDS AND IMPACTS
The purpose of this assessment is to identify several of the most consistent and current
healthcare trends. We will look into how these trends impact the delivery of healthcare and
possible legislation that may result from the identified trends.
Trends:
One of the biggest current trends in healthcare is the explosion of telehealth and virtual
healthcare. Searches for telehealth spiked in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic surged. However,
the healthcare industry is still seeing higher numbers of searches for “digital” health and
telehealth than had been seen before the pandemic. The current trends are showing that over half
of all current patients would choose virtual options for continual care, even including serious
diagnoses such as disease (Byers, 2024). The increase in virtual care has been shown to offer
more efficient modes of treatment as well as reduce the number of emergency room visits.
However, not every outcome of the rapid increase in virtual care has been positive.
Another trend that has been seen currently in healthcare is the increase in attention to
mental health. Behavioral and mental health has slowly become a priority in the field of
healthcare. Recent studies have shown that nearly half of all deaths in the United States are
linked to behavioral (otherwise known as preventable) causes (Byers, 2024). Because of the link
between mental health and behavioral medicine, physicians have started to pay closer attention to
the possibility of behavioral health disorder diagnoses and more preventative care.
Impacts:
One impact that we can expect to see in healthcare because of the increase in virtual
healthcare and telehealth is a decrease in healthcare employees overall. Just as the digitalization
of other fields has removed jobs, the same will happen if this trend continues. A lack of in-person
1
Running head: CURRENT HEALTHCARE TRENDS AND IMPACTS
Sydney Schultz
Western Governors University
Service line Development - AMT2 Task 3
April 1, 2024
, lOMoAR cPSD| 63316909
2
CURRENT HEALTHCARE TRENDS AND IMPACTS
The purpose of this assessment is to identify several of the most consistent and current
healthcare trends. We will look into how these trends impact the delivery of healthcare and
possible legislation that may result from the identified trends.
Trends:
One of the biggest current trends in healthcare is the explosion of telehealth and virtual
healthcare. Searches for telehealth spiked in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic surged. However,
the healthcare industry is still seeing higher numbers of searches for “digital” health and
telehealth than had been seen before the pandemic. The current trends are showing that over half
of all current patients would choose virtual options for continual care, even including serious
diagnoses such as disease (Byers, 2024). The increase in virtual care has been shown to offer
more efficient modes of treatment as well as reduce the number of emergency room visits.
However, not every outcome of the rapid increase in virtual care has been positive.
Another trend that has been seen currently in healthcare is the increase in attention to
mental health. Behavioral and mental health has slowly become a priority in the field of
healthcare. Recent studies have shown that nearly half of all deaths in the United States are
linked to behavioral (otherwise known as preventable) causes (Byers, 2024). Because of the link
between mental health and behavioral medicine, physicians have started to pay closer attention to
the possibility of behavioral health disorder diagnoses and more preventative care.
Impacts:
One impact that we can expect to see in healthcare because of the increase in virtual
healthcare and telehealth is a decrease in healthcare employees overall. Just as the digitalization
of other fields has removed jobs, the same will happen if this trend continues. A lack of in-person
