Providence, which has system offices in Renton, Wash., and Irvine, Calif., released its annual list of predictions Jan. 26 curated by the health system's senior executives.
The list highlights the executives' healthcare predictions for 2023, which touch on issues such as cybersecurity, workplace innovation and mental health.
"With high burnout rates among clinicians and a worsening healthcare labor shortage, the most important advances in 2023 will be those that support the well-being of front-line caregivers," Providence President and CEO Rod Hochman, MD, said in a statement.
"This includes creating new models of care and reimagining the way we do the work, so that caregivers can find greater flexibility and balance in their lives while staying connected to the reason they got into healthcare in the first place: the human connection with patients."
The 10 predictions from Providence executives:
1. Workplace innovations that ease workloads and reduce burnout among employees and help them connect with patients in a deeper way will play a key role in addressing today's healthcare workforce shortages.
2. Major health systems will share resources and expertise to address shared challenges.
3. Health systems will prioritize action when it comes to children's mental health, partnering with schools and community organizations to ensure youth have more access to needed mental health services.
4. The latest SARS-CoV-2 subvariant of omicron, XBB.1.5, may be the most infectious mutation of the virus to date, though the severity of the strain is still undetermined.
5. Health system information technology teams will increasingly focus on defense strategies, including artificial intelligence-powered solutions, to stay ahead of cyberattackers.
6. Health systems will increasingly push for climate-resilient infrastructure to ensure their facilities are prepared for potential extreme weather events.
7. Amid economic uncertainties, nonprofit health systems will prepare to provide more charity care to those who need it.
8. Health systems will work hard in 2023 to attract more direct-to-employer contracts via partnerships with other providers and services.
9. More hospital closures and defaults are likely as organizations face unprecedented operating losses.
10. Tech giants and others will continue efforts to disrupt healthcare.
Providence is a 52-hospital system with locations in Alaska, California, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas and Washington.
The health system's full list of predictions is available here.