COVID-19 & How It Has Changed the Future of Healthcare
There is opportunity in every situation, no matter how difficult. You can’t sit around and let the future define you; you have to define it. This is easier said than done -- especially when that difficult situation you’re faced with is a global pandemic.
At Starkey Expo in January, I was on stage talking about how this was going to be the hearing industry’s best decade yet. By April, U.S. hearing aid sales had plummeted. However, I still believe this will be our industry’s greatest decade, and the reason goes back to something else I talked about at Starkey Expo: the necessity of adapting to thrive.
COVID-19 has made the clinician's role even more important. Because of this, it has sped up the adoption of technology to keep the hearing healthcare professional and the patient connected, even when social distancing is keeping them apart.
Telehealth is not new. The capability has been around for more than two decades. The problem has always been that the systems and equipment were too complicated. Smartphones changed that, literally putting telehealth right in the patient’s hands.
We are seeing how vital this technology is amid COVID-19. Patients can get their hearing aids adjusted remotely, and the hearing healthcare professional can be there whenever they’re needed. Telehealth is opening a new door in healthcare, and it’s one that, we believe at Starkey, isn’t going to close once the pandemic is over.
Just like hearing healthcare professionals have been pushed to adapt to thrive to keep their businesses afloat and to continue providing essential care for patients, Starkey has adapted, too. Seeing this growing telehealth need, we quickly expanded access to our Hearing Care Anywhere. This technology allows the professional to fine tune a hearing aid remotely. We’re hearing from many clinicians that this technology hasn’t taken away from the provider-patient relationship; it’s actually enhanced it. Starkey has also created a website focused on the recovery phase of the COVID-19 crisis to help our customers return to business, recover and grow. We specifically address the future of hearing healthcare, how COVID-19 changed patients’ needs and we lay out how hearing healthcare professionals can adapt.
As we continue to push telehealth forward, Starkey is working on solutions expanding the ways professionals can provide personalized care remotely. While COVID-19 transformed the hearing industry, it wasn’t for the worse. It accelerated an idea we’ve been working on at Starkey for awhile now -- transforming patient-centered care into patient-driven care. This is the future of our industry.
When I was talking about adapting to thrive at Starkey Expo, I never thought that message would immediately be so relevant. Many will say that COVID-19 has forced us to reassess our businesses, but it is also giving us the opportunity to push forward for the betterment of the patient and their experience. I’ve seen so many hearing professionals around the country do just that. And because of it, they’re emerging even stronger than before.