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Analytics Insights for Life Sciences and Industry From Sg2 Executive Summit 2021

Each year, Sg2 experts examine trends that will change health care utilization across the care continuum, which results in our Sg2 Impact of Change® (IoC) Demand Forecast. Our health system members leverage the IoC forecast to revise their strategic plans, prioritize investments and redesign their health care systems. Predicting the future in this time of uncertainty is far from easy, but the Sg2 Life Sciences & Industry (LSI) team is excited about the provocative insights gleaned from the IoC forecast that were shared at the Sg2 November Executive Summit. Below are some key findings and implications for LSI portfolios.

Inpatient growth overall will remain flat, but the acuity will change dramatically.
  • High demand will come from more complex patients, with a rise in hospital length of stay and potential implications on how your products will perform. Health systems will continue to focus on operational performance improvements and seek partners with above-brand services to improve on key performance metrics. The time is ripe to provide the evidence and lean in on value solutions to help health systems achieve crucial efficiencies.
  • Growth opportunities will still remain for niche inpatient procedures, including endovascular, transcatheter aortic valve replacement and bariatric surgery.

Bar graph of Adult IP Forecast, Impact of Change 2021

Clinical trial results may not reflect real-world outcomes.
  • With more complex and comorbid patients, will your product deliver on its promises? With the increasing availability of actual clinical outcomes and cost data, more transparency is expected on the actual outcomes and total costs of care. Supporting providers and health systems in the nuances of appropriate use, patient selection, and how to assess outcomes and costs will continue to be essential to differentiate existing and new products alike. We are increasingly seeing creative partnerships, data-sharing agreements and risk-based discussions.
Care shifts will continue, but local market dynamics matter.
  • “What is our ambulatory surgery center (ASC) strategy?” has been a recurring question from many of our medical device members. The shift away from the traditional inpatient setting is accelerating quickly, but nuances remain across different procedure categories, as well as dynamics between hospital outpatient departments and ASCs. We are encouraged to see the investment in new teams, titles and capabilities to realize the opportunities for this shift and to support health systems.
  • Virtual shift of primary care visits will persist with an expected intensification of primary care services. Similar to the rise in the inpatient acuity, our experts expect acuity of patients in the primary care setting to rise as well.
  • Last year, we challenged you to consider developing your ASC strategy; now, we are urging you to consider the impact of the hospital at home model on your portfolio.
  • Care shifts will not unfold equally across markets—some have shifted more than others, and some are yet to take off. Our LSI team recently had an ASC segmentation discussion with one of our medical device members on how to conceptualize “has” vs “will” to define where to prioritize ASC efforts by market.
  • Lastly, as the shifts create new challenges for existing portfolios, seek opportunities to redesign your traditional market access and commercialization playbook, and ask yourself if there is an alternative approach to engaging with these new customer channels.

Contact Sg2 today to learn about how our experts can help provide more unfiltered “voice of the customer” insights your life science and industry company needs to successfully focus product development, commercialization and sales efforts to align with current and future needs of hospitals and health systems.

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