J.D. Kleinke

First, the good news: after 30 years of hype, hope, and disappointment, telehealth has finally broken through – and all it took was a global pandemic. But thanks to the pandemic, one-third of the medical workforce now wants to quit. How will your organization cope with the coming systemic shock? Will the ongoing migration of medical care to less invasive settings ease some of the burden by re-aligning where patients get their care with where and how your employees would rather work? The question is especially pressing as the demand for all health care services is about to spike, thanks to the “collateral epidemiology” of the pandemic: the medical consequences of patients putting off primary care, cancer screenings, surgeries, and other treatments for two years. Challenges, yes, but they also mean opportunities for organizational transformation in what may be the most significant structural re-alignment of health care in the US since the rise of managed care in the 1990s. This session will outline what both telehealth and traditional medical care will look like in the very near future – and organizational strategies for adapting, surviving, and thriving in the American healthcare system after the pandemic.