When we set out to explore the next decade for our newly released book, Joe Public 2030, we intentionally wiped our mental slates clean of any agenda or preconceived vision of the future. We let an in-depth, three-month process guide our thinking, aided by input from three dozen industry experts and more than 250 resources such as research reports, studies, articles, and other prognostications. Which means that when the final five predictions did emerge from the swirl, we had no idea they would paint such a challenging future.
Sure, the first prediction, “The Copernican Consumer,” depicts a promising picture of technology, at-your-finger services, and support coming together to make humans healthier and happier. But in the very next chapter, “Constricted Consumerism,” we outline how various factors will actually limit healthcare consumers in the coming decade, especially for high-cost care encounters.
And it doesn’t get much better from there, depending on where you sit in this industry: a potentially bitter future for legacy hospitals and health systems thanks to their battles with new, bigger, more consumer-oriented brands in “The Funnel Wars;” the deepening politicization of healthcare, resulting in the possibility of politically oriented clinics and hospitals in “The Rise of Health Sects;” and finally, without a national intervention of generational proportions, a growing health gap between the “haves” and the “have nots” in the “Disparity Dystopia.” Oof.
But as the famous saying goes, “The first step in solving a problem is knowing you have one.” Our mission in exploring the future and publishing Joe Public 2030 was to drive conversation in the industry around what the future might look like, and more importantly, what kind of future we want. By sparking real debate and reflection, we hope there are those that read these predictions and set out to either ensure they do happen for the good of healthcare, or they fight like mad to prevent them. Because the truth is, no matter how far-fetched some of these may seem, they were all supported by respected industry experts, and all are grounded in trends happening right here, right now.
Joe Public 2030 makes bold predictions about the future. But those predictions don’t lock the future in place. The future is what you make it.
Joe Public 2030: Five Potent Predictions Reshaping How Consumers Engage Healthcare, was written by Chris Bevolo, Chief Transformation Officer at BPD, and is available at Amazon or other popular book outlets.
