The world has experienced a great deal of upheaval over the last two years. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused dramatic shifts across society as a whole, and the healthcare industry has not managed to escape this upheaval. The expectations patients hold for their healthcare have shifted; where once value-based care was the main driver of better health outcomes, the digital transformation that has taken place over the past two years has changed the way patients interact with their healthcare, changing the expectations they hold of their providers.

The outlook is not grim, however, as the fundamentals required to make the pivot toward more personalized, data-driven and technology-based care are already present. Interoperability mandates, such as CMS’s Interoperability and Patient Access Final Rule and the Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare’s Electronic Data Interchange rules, among other initiatives, have allowed providers to spend more time directly with patients, bringing the focus firmly back to providing high quality care. The advanced data sharing capabilities that are core to value-based care, in addition to these new interoperability mandates, have also allowed providers the ability to share accurate, real-time information with patients.

Healthcare consumers, especially young adults in their 20s and 30s, are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of having access to their healthcare data. This is partly due to the swift development of digital tools and applications over the past two years for tracking vaccination status, sending vaccination reminders, and receiving COVID-19 test results. These are consumers that have always been connected to the world around them through the internet, having instant access to news and information via search engines and social media, and they are coming to expect the same from their healthcare providers; these generations have a drastically different perspective and experience of possessing a digital footprint as compared to those that came before, sharing personal data in exchange for instant information is the norm for them.

These generations also have a greatly different view of healthcare, with many being dissatisfied with the way the healthcare industry has traditionally operated. With these age groups soon to become the largest group of patients in the nation, it is time for providers to begin the shift towards personalized and data-driven healthcare, to meet the expectations of their soon-to-be largest audience. Thankfully, the industry already appears to be moving in the right direction; providers that have already pivoted to value-based care and increased penalties now being placed on information blocking have set healthcare up to meet these changing expectations. The new patients expect to be more involved in their health care and desire a more collaborative healthcare process; value-based care models must begin shifting to providing real value, rather than simply targeting a better cost to quality ratio.