Who Needs Insight?

One way to determine the complexity of an industry is to study the number of companies claiming to know how to “fix it.” The healthcare industry certainly fits the bill, as stakeholders are drowning in expert opinion online and companies willing to sell those opinions and services. In fact, a 2018 report by Ibis World, identified that the healthcare consulting field consisted of 17,257 separate entities would generate generating $6 billion dollars in revenue reach an annualized growth rate of over 7.1% in 2018. As an executive of a national health insurance company once said to me, “We are all living on the complexity that we create.” The industry does not need another best practice, health IT solution, or new payment model but real insight into how health policy, technical innovations and community health needs intersect. Strategic planning requires that each organization take the time that leads to the capacity to gain an accurate and deep intuitive understanding of themselves. Without taking time to seek a deep understanding of the present, predicting the future or investing in solutions to meet the next challenge is a fool’s errand.