Definitive Healthcare’s 2019 Annual Healthcare Trends Survey has traced the top healthcare industry trends. Healthcare consumerism and patient empowerment are the top trends. They will bring a change in the way medical professionals approach their jobs in the near future.

This survey covered 1,000 healthcare leaders, including those from the biotech, provider, financial services, IT, consulting, and life sciences sectors. Consumerism will be one of the primary forces shaping the future of medicine as revealed by the survey.

Telehealth ranked as a top healthcare industry trend too, with 13.8 percent of respondents reporting in favor of it. Telehealth lets patients connect to care in a more convenient way. It allows patients to meet providers from their homes, clinic or hospital that is more centrally located.

Patients, too, value the use of telehealth in the changing healthcare market scenario according to a previous Definitive HC report. A survey conducted by HIMSS Analytics, recently acquired by Definitive, revealed that 70 percent of patients would prefer a telehealth visit over an in-person visit.

Now that patients are bearing more financial responsibility for their own healthcare, they expect and demand more from their providers. They are transforming into healthcare payers who search for lowest cost, the best value and the highest level of convenience with regards to care.

It is the healthcare organizations who need to respond in kind with more price and care quality data transparency as they offer convenient care options, like neighbourhood clinics and health IT tools.

14.4 percent of respondents said healthcare consumerism and patient empowerment were top industry trends.

Leaving consumerism behind as the top industry trend was industry consolidation with 25.2 percent of respondent votes. As more healthcare organizations and other medical companies are going through mergers and acquisitions, providers must be agile and poised to live up to the new challenges in an ever-changing field.