What Telehealth Taught Us About the Next Wave of Healthcare Change
By Joel Comm | A Trusted Voice in a Noisy Tech World
When COVID hit in March 2020, I watched healthcare organizations split into two camps. Some spent weeks debating HIPAA compliance for video calls while patients couldn't get care. Others had telehealth programs running within days.
The difference wasn't technical sophistication. The slow movers often had better IT departments and bigger budgets. The fast movers had something more valuable: confidence in their ability to figure it out as they went.
That pattern is playing out again across every corner of healthcare. And the stakes are even higher this time.
The Real Lesson From Telehealth's Overnight Success
Telehealth adoption jumped from 11% to 85% in eight weeks. But here's what most people missed: the organizations that scaled fastest didn't wait for perfect solutions. They started with basic video calls and improved weekly based on patient feedback.
Mayo Clinic launched their telehealth program with consumer-grade platforms before building custom solutions. Cleveland Clinic trained doctors using YouTube videos when formal training couldn't keep pace with demand. These weren't desperate moves. They were strategic choices to learn by doing instead of planning by committee.
The organizations that struggled? They tried to design the perfect telehealth experience before treating their first virtual patient. They're still trying to catch up.
Multiple Disruptions Demand a New Playbook
This is exactly the kind of challenge the Disruption Confidence Cycle was built to address. The framework maps how organizations move from uncertainty to confident action during times of rapid change.
Healthcare isn't facing one big change anymore. It's facing seven simultaneous disruptions that feed off each other.
Amazon's One Medical acquisition isn't just about retail giants entering healthcare. It's about data integration, consumer expectations, and care delivery models colliding at once. When patients can book same-day primary care appointments through an app that knows their purchase history, traditional health systems can't compete with slightly better bedside manner.
Apple Watch data is already changing cardiology workflows. Continuous glucose monitors are shifting diabetes management from quarterly clinic visits to daily digital coaching. These aren't future scenarios. They're happening now in organizations that embrace the Disruption Confidence Cycle instead of fighting it.
Value-based care contracts are forcing providers to think beyond billable procedures. When you get paid for keeping people healthy instead of treating them when they're sick, every workflow needs rethinking. The organizations winning these contracts started experimenting with prevention programs years ago, not when the contracts arrived.
Why Technical Excellence Isn't Enough Anymore
I've invested in companies across multiple industries for decades. The pattern is always the same: technical leaders assume they'll win because they build better products. They're usually wrong.
Healthcare's most successful digital transformations come from organizations that treat technology as an enablement tool, not a destination. They focus on patient outcomes and work backward to the technical requirements.
Consider how Epic became the dominant electronic health record. Not because they had the best code, but because they understood that doctors needed workflows that matched how they actually practiced medicine. They iterated based on user feedback instead of feature checklists.
The same principle applies to every current healthcare disruption. Genomic medicine isn't valuable because the science is amazing. It's valuable when it changes treatment decisions at the point of care. Interoperability mandates don't matter because data sharing is technically possible. They matter when shared data improves patient outcomes.
Building Confidence for Continuous Change
Healthcare leaders tell me they feel overwhelmed by the pace of change. I understand that feeling. But overwhelm comes from trying to predict every scenario instead of building systems that adapt to any scenario.
The most successful healthcare organizations I work with have stopped asking "What's the next big disruption?" They're asking "How do we get better at responding to disruption in general?"
They run small experiments constantly. They measure patient satisfaction alongside clinical outcomes. They train staff to expect change instead of resist it. Most importantly, they treat every new technology or regulation as a chance to serve patients better, not as a threat to their current model.
The next wave of healthcare change is already here. Artificial intelligence, social determinants integration, mental health parity, climate-related health impacts. The list never ends because innovation never stops.
Your choice isn't whether to change. It's whether to lead the change or let it happen to you. Start with one small experiment this week. Build your confidence muscle for the bigger changes ahead. Your patients are counting on it.
For more on how Joel helps healthcare organizations navigate disruption, visit the Healthcare hub page or explore Joel’s AI keynote speaking topics.
