2. Top 7 Healthcare Trends of 2014
...that you need to know about!
2
Contents
1) Workforce Multipliers....................................................................................................................3
2) Patient-Centered Care....................................................................................................................3
3) The Educated Healthcare Consumer ...............................................................................................4
4) Relationship Marketing is Back.......................................................................................................4
5) Physical Therapy Specialists and Cash-Based Practice......................................................................5
6) Home and Professional Diagnostics Will Get Connected in Simpler More Meaningful Ways .............5
7) Niche Practices will Explode ...........................................................................................................6

3. Top 7 Healthcare Trends of 2014
...that you need to know about!
3
1) Workforce Multipliers
There is an enormous need to make our healthcare system more efficient from a cost and
workflow management standpoint. Some of these inefficiencies include: fragmented
continuum of care, cost transparency, and interdisciplinary communication.
“Many of the trends include the marriage of social, mobile, analytics and cloud
technologies together to improve the activation, delivery and coordination of care. All are
in response to leaner times for providers, payers, and employers and a call for greater
visibility of the value healthcare delivers by the patient. This is forcing a shift to leaner
healthcare innovation and competitive models that resemble public health rather that fee
for service. It is also redefining the healthcare job market that has always used technology
to do more with the same number of people – this is a permanent “trend” that all other
trends must subscribe to.”
Jim Bloedau, Digital and Mobile Health Expert, Founder at Information Advantage Group
http://www.iag.co/
2) Patient-Centered Care
Policy and technology are more focused on empowering the patient to participate in their
care. The ACA has made patient satisfaction a financial consequence for acute care
facilities.
“One of my favorite trends in healthcare is the shift towards more patient-centered care
technology. We are empowering patients throughout the care continuum in ways that not
only improve the overall quality of their care, but their satisfaction in receiving it.”
Nick Doughtery, Co-founder & CEO at VerbalCare http://www.verbalcare.com/

4. Top 7 Healthcare Trends of 2014
...that you need to know about!
4
3) The Educated Healthcare Consumer
There are a number of start-ups in the healthcare industry focused on empowering the
healthcare consumer with the “tools” needed to make better decisions about their care.
Examples of these types of “tools” include; finding hospitals with the lowest readmission
rates for a particular disease, comparing the costs of medical services between different
hospitals, and hospital branded mobile applications for educating patients through their
mobile device.
“Patient power tools! You can just sense this growing appetite amongst healthcare
consumers for digital resources and education. I really do believe that better
understanding and decision making from patients and caregivers is the key to improving
our healthcare system for the long term.”
Michael Walsh, Founder & CEO at Cariloop https://www.cariloop.com/
4) Relationship Marketing is Back
Changes in policy, have altered the way healthcare organizations and clinics of all sizes
market their services. The healthcare consumer now has more choices than ever. They
have been empowered with more tools to help them make those choices, particularly
when it comes to choosing a healthcare provider. Customer satisfaction and building
relationships have never been more important.
“In 2014, healthcare providers and institutions will be Taking It To The Streets. The pivotal
moment of getting out into the community for purposes of giving back as well as the best
way to grow your business has arrived. Some might say whats old is new again. This
timeless process of Relationship Marketing doesn’t care what the insurance guidelines
are, what the economic environment is, whether you are in a large city or small town or
any other variable. This is how we built businesses before we thought we could do it in an
email or on Facebook, and this is what will take those savvy enough to understand,
successfully into the next decade.”
Dr. Randi Ross, Founder of the Community Wellness Day
http://communitywellnessday.com/

5. Top 7 Healthcare Trends of 2014
...that you need to know about!
5
5) Physical Therapy Specialists and Cash-Based Practice
Reimbursement for physical therapy services is dwindling, forcing therapists to see more
patients in less time. This leads to poor quality of care for the patient and less satisfaction
for the therapist. Many therapists are tired of this and are starting niche practices that
focus on quality care and cash payments for their services.
“The next trend I see as a physical therapist is that there are more physical therapy clinics
which are adding cash based services and clinics that are moving towards being
out-of-network providers. Many clinics are finding that their in-network contracts are
unsustainable or that they are unable to provide high value services, or even just the
treatment that the patient needs, within the confines of the decreasing reimbursement of
the in-network contract. Many physical therapist are dissatisfied with the model of
treating 3 or 4 patients an hour. This environment is driving them to become
entrepreneurs and start small out-of-network cash based physical therapy clinics where
they provide quality one-on-one physical therapy services to patients in a manner in which
they feel is best, not a 3rd party who is primarily interested in the bottom line.”
Dr. Aaron LeBauer, DPT, Founder at LeBauer Consulting http://lebauerconsulting.com/
6) Home and Professional Diagnostics Will Get
Connected in Simpler More Meaningful Ways
Making sense of all the data that streams out of our diagnostic devices and wearables is
a major theme in 2014. What good is that data if patients and medical providers don’t use
it to create an effective intervention. Simplifying the process and having a central device
to aggregate all the data is where things are going.
“Home and professional diagnostics will get connected. There are many solutions for
home diagnostics providing reliable data- blood pressure monitors, scales, glucose meters,
thermometers.

6. Top 7 Healthcare Trends of 2014
...that you need to know about!
6
But the data is useful only if somebody can act upon it, for example advise a treatment or
prescribe medicines. Home diagnostics will become really important when the results will
be available to the doctor to review, compare with outpatient and inpatient diagnostics
and act upon it. This way the patient may avoid initial doctor's visit and may be directly
appointed to the secondary care. Costs due to wrong referrals and differential diagnostic
would be saved. Professional diagnostics will get simplified. Too many patients are
referred to secondary healthcare due to lack of an objective, accurate and simple
diagnostic tools at primary healthcare. For example, if patient has pain in the leg, he is
appointed to visit three different specialists. By simplifying diagnostic procedures,
manufacturers will bring reliable diagnostics from secondary to primary healthcare and
thus shorten the time to discover cardiovascular, digestive, respiratory diseases and
cancer.”
Jakob Susteric, CEO at MESI http://www.mesimedical.com/
7) Niche Practices will Explode
The need to niche down is here. Whether you are a doctor, physical therapist, massage
therapist, or chiropractor, you need a niche. With the emergence of ACOs, larger health
organizations are grouping together. They will be like mini-HMOs that will be referring
within their network. This can leave the private practice owner with less of the traditional
referrals from these sources, and a further need to market their niche services directly to
the public.
“Being an optimist can get tiring. But 2014 is going to be a good year for healthcare
practitioners. Doubt me? I predict the average revenue for private practices with systems
and marketing in place to increase to 30% profits at years end. The large hospital based
conglomerates will soon realize that being the provider that has an answer for everything
will only hurt them. Niche practices will explode in 2014 in all aspects of healthcare,
leading to amazing networking. A new age of healthcare is dawning.”
Dr. Joseph Simon, DPT, Founder at Private Practice Business Academy
http://privatepracticebusinessacademy.com/