Covid-19 has sped the adoption of virtual care, or the provision of health services remotely in a synchronous or asynchronous fashion. No longer just a convenient enhancement to in-person clinical care, virtual care is needed by patients, clinicians, care teams, and health systems alike. But the gap between the promise and the reality of virtual care is substantial: The stakeholders often don't get what they need while trying their best to navigate a new paradigm. We aim to close this gap by helping health systems refine and reimagine their virtual care journey while prioritizing the needs of the people who get and give the care. Our guiding principle is a needs-based approach that retains the best practices of in-person visits while sensibly adapting to the unique characteristics of a virtual setting.

We are a digital healthcare technology company focused on helping health plans transform utilization management into truly collaborative care management, using next-generation technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. I was drawn to Cohere because of the company's focus on ensuring that patients get the most optimal health outcomes. To make that goal a reality, Cohere is committed to playing a big role in transforming the vexing healthcare processes that undermine patient care. That is the company's mission, and that's what attracted me to Cohere. COVID has been a major catalyst for healthcare in multiple ways because it has laid bare the inefficiencies and inadequacies of the system.

The past two years have seen some of the biggest market disruptions for healthcare providers and organizations in living memory, which means every medical provider has a lot more information to sift through these days when it comes to picking out the best tech to invest in for their practices and patients. When you consider the surfeit of tech innovations, plus the massive additional workloads healthcare workers are dealing with due to the pandemic, it's easy to see how decision-makers in healthcare organizations can become overwhelmed. But independent practices and hospitals have to stay on the cutting edge if they want to provide the best possible care to their patients while ensuring their business also thrives. The pandemic reminded us that it's a dangerous game to try and predict with certainty what the future holds, but we can look to current healthcare trends to see what technologies may become the most widely adopted, beneficial, and necessary tools of the coming years. To that end, Gartner ran a global survey of 93 healthcare organizations with no more than 500 employees to understand their strategic planning around tech adoption (methodology below).

The covid-19 pandemic has shown us how much health care is in need of not just tweaking but radical change. The pressure on global health systems, providers, and staff has already been increasing to unsustainable levels. But it also illustrates how much can be achieved in times of crisis: for example, China and the UK recently built thousands of extra beds in intensive care units, or ICUs, in less than two weeks. Health-care reform will need to spur a totally different approach to how care is organized, delivered, and distributed, which will be paramount in a (hopefully soon) post-covid-19 era. It's the only way to deliver the quadruple aim of health care: better outcomes, improved patient and staff experience, and lower cost of care.

One of the impressive examples of AI in healthcare are virtual nurses, a solution which, according to Syneos Health Communications survey, is already an acceptable option for over 60% of surveyed patients. Even though patients still show some concerns regarding the possible lack of human oversight, the benefits of 24/7 access to medical support and non-stop monitoring of their health are solid arguments in favor of AI-enhanced care. The increasing use of virtual care can lead to a significant decrease in ER visits, which translates into reducing workload and on-the-spot personnel shortages. The Gartner Top Strategic Predictions for 2019 and Beyond report predicts that in 4 years, AI-enhanced virtual care of chronically ill patients can result in cutting down the number of ER visits by 20 million.

For patients with chronic illnesses in rural areas, clinician shortages can present a real health challenge. A flare-up or health issue might mean a trip to the emergency room, which is costly for the patient and the hospital. Now, patients can meet with doctors in different cities by utilizing virtual care, which provides convenient and cost-effective healthcare. AI-enhanced virtual care is one of Gartner's 10 top predictions for 2019 and beyond. The predictions examine three fundamental effects of continued digital innovation: AI and skills, cultural advancement and processes becoming products.

Artificial intelligence could be key to driving down emergency room visits over the next five years, according to one research company's crystal ball. By 2023, enrollment of chronically ill patients in AI-enhanced virtual care will result in 20 million fewer ER visits, according to a prediction by Connecticut-based research company Gartner, which recently released its "Top Strategic Predictions for 2019 and Beyond" report. The report examined three fundamental effects of continued digital innovation: AI and skills, cultural advancement, and processes becoming products. The prediction underscores the growing prominence of virtual care, which may be cheaper than face-to-face encounters and also help reduce pressures from clinical shortages, according to Gartner. "For patients with chronic illnesses in rural areas, clinician shortages can present a real health challenge. A flare-up or health issue might mean a trip to the emergency room, which is costly for the patient and the hospital," the report reads.

Experts in various fields will discuss the ethical use of artificial intelligence in medicine and the issues surrounding, privacy, accuracy, and accountability.

The state of value-based reimbursement efforts has been uncertain. Many healthcare organizations are indeed pursuing newer strategies to replace traditional fee-for-service care while reducing costs and improving quality, but progress has often been halting. Still, experts from Cedars-Sinai, CVS Health, Blue Cross NC and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care say they're quite optimistic for the future of value-based care in 2018 and beyond. In the area of health IT, the shift to value-based care is fueling new uses for data and has the potential to reinvigorate the electronic health records that many feared had gone stale, said Scott Weingarten, senior vice president and chief clinical transformation officer at Cedars-Sinai and an innovator in the value-based care space. "I believe that natural language processing, machine learning and artificial intelligence have the potential to significantly improve the interpretation, understanding and usefulness of information documented in the electronic health records and other information sources," Weingarten said.