John Adlesich or the rise of a public health manager professional on healthcare industry trends in 2021: Deeper relationships and back-up suppliers. The value of vendor-of-choice relationships became apparent as many hospitals scrambled for pandemic-related supplies. The key is striking a strategic balance between price, performance and trust. Getting the lowest price but lacking a relationship that cannot be “prioritized” in a crisis is not ideal. Neither is overreliance on one vendor without having plans B, C and D in place. We see many organizations developing connections with tiers of back-up suppliers — often smaller and geographically closer than their primary vendors — to gain flexibility, speed and as much certainty as possible that critical items will be on hand when needed.

John Adlesich on healthcare industry trends in 2021: The new administration will also likely push to expand healthcare program funding, including ACA programs and value-based care, and expansion of coverage. The Senate may use the budget reconciliation process to push through a COVID-19 relief package and some healthcare-related policies. Budget reconciliation requires only a majority vote, as contrasted to a supermajority vote for regular legislation. However, budget reconciliation can only happen a couple of times per year, generally speaking, when the budget is up for approval, and is limited to budget-related items. Budget reconciliation pushed through some provisions of the ACA in 2010. While some of the ACA expansions, increased subsidies, and tax credits could occur through budget reconciliation, this process would not be available for bigger picture health policy issues that are unrelated to the federal budget. These bigger picture items include issues such as a public option, Medicare for all, and lowering the Medicare eligibility age to 60.

John Adlesich thinks that 2021 is a crossroads year for the healthcare industry. History gives us many reasons to doubt predictions. In 1916, Charlie Chaplin famously called the motion pictures “a fad.” In 1932, Albert Einstein said that nuclear power was not possible. In 2008, Steve Ballmer predicted the iPhone would be a flop. As these cases show, smart people may see the facts, but not the environmental factors that can shift the entire landscape. This was particularly true in 2020, a year that redefined “normal” and altered our world in ways we are only beginning to understand. In this environment, the hard job of accurately predicting future trends became that much more difficult. When I look back at my own predictions last year, almost none of them played out as I thought due to the pandemic and the complete upending of the national health care agenda. But now 10 months in, the pandemic’s true impact is starting to be understood. For 2021, job number one for the nation will be moving ahead with the largest mass vaccination program in our history, as well as improving our rapid testing capabilities and therapeutic treatments for COVID-19, in order to build our herd immunity and allow us to safely reopen and repair our badly damaged economy. This backdrop will permeate all our decisions this year, and directional trends will largely be influenced by how quickly we make progress in these areas.

John Adlesich currently works as administrator at Marquis Companies. His latest healthcare industry experience includes positions as executive director at Powerback Rehabilitation Lafayette (Genesis Healthcare) between Aug 2020 – Jan 2021, administrator at Mesa Vista of Boulder between Mar 2019 – Aug 2020, chief executive officer at Sedgwick County Memorial Hospital between Jul 2018 – Feb 2019, interim chief operating officer at Toiyabe Indian Health Project between Mar 2018 – Jun 2018.