2024 Health+Wellness Year in Review

 Dan Stanek

 Kate Fisher

Estimated Read Time: 3 Minutes

Our Health + Wellness Practice Leaders share their thoughts on top news stories and trends that have made an impact in the healthcare ecosystem this year.

Food Is Medicine (FIM)

With chronic disease recognized as a major burden on US healthcare and on the lives of Americans, many are looking to food and nutrition as a means of managing their conditions at its root level. Recent national appointments are sure to raise the issue of food safety and the role of diet to new levels. Grocers and health providers have a tremendous opportunity to design and execute innovative programs and experiences to support the substantial consumer interest being stimulated through this increased exposure and make people healthier in the process.

Learn more about how the Food Is Medicine approach can transform healthcare here.

Retail Healthcare Update

While the departures of Walmart Health and Walgreens VillageMD from primary care were certainly a blow to the promise of retail health, CVS Health and Amazon One Medical continue to make aggressive moves. Amazon is creating more integration of One Medical into the Amazon universe and adding more health and wellness benefits to its Prime subscribers. It is also aggressively expanding its direct-to-door pharmacy model, shaking up the entire industry in the process. Meanwhile, CVS Health is going through a management transition but insists that it remains committed to creating an integrated health network that brings together its acquisitions of Aetna, Oak Street Health and Signify Health. This may be increasingly necessary as the company faces further headwinds in its pharmacy business under a new administration in Washington, as PBMs are under attack and greater price transparency is demanded.

Learn more on the topic here.

Women’s Health

Throughout their entire lifespan, at one point or another, women have all found their healthcare to be disjointed and confusing. Oftentimes, simple wellness check-ins and routine physicals require multiple visits to different doctors, imaging centers, and blood labs (which are also in multiple locations). On top of that, there is far less medical research on women’s health topics, and women’s medical concerns have been proven to often be dismissed at higher rates than men’s, part of which may be due to a lack of training on how men and women express pain and show symptoms. All of this and more can lead to a lack of continuity in women’s healthcare, and it creates a confusing experience for consumers. It’s time to shed light on this industry and streamline women’s health experiences.

Learn more about The Revolution in Women’s Health here.

Longevity and Health Optimization

As stated by Darshan Shah of NEXT|HEALTH, “Healthspan has not kept up with lifespan.” While traditional healthcare is vital to the healthcare ecosystem, there needs to be a movement towards personal health empowerment. As healthcare shifts from a reactive model to a proactive, wellness-centered model, the importance of longevity services, social wellness clubs, and health optimization centers is becoming more prominent. It will take bold innovators to create concepts and strategies to help consumers live healthier lives with the years they have as this new approach is reshaping how we think about aging.

Learn more on the topic from our WD Partners Health + Wellness Practice here.

Take Action

WD Partners is a customer experience innovation and execution firm partnering with some of the largest brands in the world. WD knows how to create, execute, rollout, and scale multi-unit expansion programs that include new builds, remodels, and second generation sites. Our Health + Wellness Practice is fully equipped to guide your teams through the process of developing and executing your own unique strategy as our expertise extends from insights and strategy development to designing and creating innovative brands and delivering innovation at scale.

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