There are significant challenges and opportunities ahead for the healthcare industry, whether it’s the rise of artificial intelligence, increasing cost pressures or M&A activity.

无论是人工智能的兴起、成本压力的增加还是并购活动，医疗保健行业都面临着巨大的挑战和机遇。

In a recent report, consulting firm West Monroe laid out three trends for the healthcare industry to watch out for:

在最近的一份报告中，咨询公司West Monroe提出了医疗行业需要注意的三个趋势：

Data strategy, advanced analytics and AI

数据策略、高级分析和人工智能

Generative AI has great potential to improve workflows and simplify administrative tasks in healthcare. Some specific AI use cases for payers and providers in 2024 include customer service contact centers, provider management, provider credentialing and utilization management.

生成人工智能在改进工作流程和简化医疗保健管理任务方面具有巨大潜力。2024年付款人和提供商的一些特定AI用例包括客户服务联系中心、提供商管理、提供商认证和使用管理。

But in order to be effective with AI, “foundational investments in data infrastructure and operations are essential,” according to West Monroe.

但West Monroe表示，为了有效使用人工智能，“对数据基础设施和运营的基础投资至关重要”。

“Sometimes the natural starting point isn’t so much the really cool and elegant deployment of a compelling use case. …  In fact, it actually gets back to, what are the controls? What data are you collecting that isn’t governed, and what data should you be collecting when you look five years, 10 years down the line?” said Trevor Jones, managing director of healthcare and life sciences at West Monroe, in an interview..

特雷弗·琼斯（TrevorJones）说：“有时候，自然的出发点并不是一个令人信服的用例的真正酷而优雅的部署……事实上，它实际上回到了什么是控制？你正在收集哪些不受控制的数据，以及当你看五年、十年后应该收集哪些数据？”，West Monroe医疗保健和生命科学董事总经理在接受采访时说道。。

Battling cost pressures

应对成本压力

The healthcare industry is facing significant cost challenges, partially due to increased demand after the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as provider labor shortages. For example, there is a need for 1.1 million new registered nurses in the U.S., according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In addition, the Association of American Medical Colleges expects a shortage of 54,100 to 139,000 physicians by 2033. .

医疗保健行业面临着巨大的成本挑战，部分原因是新型冠状病毒大流行后需求增加，以及提供者劳动力短缺。例如，根据劳工统计局的数据，美国需要110万名新注册护士。此外，美国医学院协会预计到2033年将短缺54100至139000名医生。

Healthcare also lags behind other industries when it comes to cost issues, noted Ben Baenen, partner of healthcare and life sciences at West Monroe.

West Monroe的医疗保健和生命科学合伙人本·贝恩（BenBaenen）指出，医疗保健在成本问题上也落后于其他行业。

“The healthcare system is getting what other industries were facing in 2019 and 2020,” Baenen said in an interview.

Baenen在接受采访时表示：“医疗保健系统正在获得2019年和2020年其他行业所面临的挑战。”。

Leveraging technology and AI is one way to ease these cost pressures, according to West Monroe.

West Monroe表示，利用技术和人工智能是缓解这些成本压力的一种方法。

“We see rising costs being a massive, massive theme. How do you use AI? And how do you start to streamline internal operations to reduce your operating expense? There are ways of doing that, AI is one of 100 different ways,” Baenen added.

Baenen补充道：“我们认为成本上涨是一个巨大的主题。你如何使用人工智能？你如何开始简化内部运营以降低运营费用？有多种方法可以做到这一点，人工智能是100种不同方法之一。”。

Changing dealmaking landscape

不断变化的交易格局

West Monroe anticipates seeing an uptick in M&A activity in 2024, and private equity is a major influence.

西门罗预计2024年并购活动将出现上升，私募股权是主要影响因素。

“The driving forces behind these deals are changing: Private equity, with its approach of acquiring at lower prices and building value for a lucrative payoff, has become an undeniable force shaping the dealmaking landscape,” the report stated. “Strategic buyers, more focused on building assets that will generate value over time, are also making an impact.”.

报告称：“这些交易背后的驱动力正在发生变化：私募股权以较低的价格收购，并以丰厚的回报创造价值，已成为塑造交易格局的不可否认的力量。”。“战略买家更专注于打造能够随时间产生价值的资产，也在产生影响。”。

Looking ahead, M&A strategy will be more focused on “stable, mature, and profitable businesses,” particularly while there’s an unstable economic environment. There will also be a shift away from “unproven digital health solutions.”

展望未来，并购战略将更加侧重于“稳定、成熟和盈利的企业”，尤其是在经济环境不稳定的情况下。也将不再使用“未经验证的数字健康解决方案”

“There was a flurry of excitement in 2021 on digital health,” Baenen said. “Interest rates were super low. So you saw tons of investment because it was a smart bet. I think we’re starting to see a little bit more necessity of healthcare companies with proven customer backlogs, satisfied customers, long tenured customers.

贝恩说：“2021年，数字健康引发了一阵兴奋。”。“利率超低。所以你看到了大量投资，因为这是一个明智的选择。我认为我们开始看到医疗保健公司有更多的必要性，这些公司拥有久经考验的客户积压、满意的客户和长期客户。

The investment is looking more at stable healthcare companies.”.

这项投资更多地着眼于稳定的医疗保健公司。”。

Photo: lerbank, Getty Images

图片：lerbank，Getty Images

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