Two recent studies seem to point the way to the future of healthcare: better integration with technology. One of the publications shows that the number of virtual consultations between primary health care providers and their patients will almost double in the next five years in the U.S. The other highlights how future physicians believe interoperability is critical to better care in the country.

“A new report from information and analytics firm IHS says video consultations will jump overall to nearly 27 million, driven by the primary care market where insurance coverage is rapidly widening,” explains Bruce Japsen in this Forbes article.

The research projects an average annual growth of 10 percent in virtual consultations, justifying the rise from this year’s estimated 16.6 million meetings. “Virtual healthcare solutions have the opportunity to enable clinician expertise and knowledge through a diverse number of channels, whether it’s remote consultations, remote monitoring, kiosk solutions, electronic messaging or a simple phone call, to go beyond brick and mortar,” concludes the study.

The data does not address, however, the main healthcare issue, according to medical students. According to them, “fragmented care is the number one safety risk for today’s patients, underscoring the need for improved and meaningful patient data sharing.” The findings are from the 10th Annual Epocrates Future Physicians of America Survey, as reported by Jasmine Pennic.

The future physicians also see risks in sharing patient information. Be it quality or security issues, “Forty-four percent are concerned about the ability to do so within a hospital or practice and seventy-three percent worry about the ability to share patient information across unaffiliated practices.” However, they are almost unanimous in agreeing that sharing patient records among care professionals is critical to improving care.

As healthcare PR and marketing professionals, our role is to help identify these trends and collaborate to make the transition as smooth as possible. Communications with stakeholders, be it regulators, patients or investors, plays a crucial part in the healthcare business model. Helping everyone involved understand the benefits of accountable, integrated care and build bridges to work together on improvements is the objective of a successful communications strategy for the healthcare industry.

If you’re in healthcare, insurance, technology or other professional services industries, and need help with a PR, marketing or social media campaign, contact Scott Public Relations.

Like what you’ve read? Follow Scott Public Relations on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Google+.

Sign up to receive our monthly advice on healthcare, insurance and technology PR: Scott Public Relations