What Does Health Care Trends Mean?

Health care trends refer to statistical patterns identified in the health care industry. Government authorities and other industries examine and use trends to preserve or enhance the health and wellness of those in the community.

Features

• Health care trends are fact-based, measurable statistics with patterns that repeat, or remain steady, over time. The measurability allows analysts to evaluate the data in terms of numbers, percentages, dates, years or quantities. In health care, trends include information about people, diseases, medications and technology.

Function

• The Center for Disease Control uses health care trends to issue public information about pandemics, environmental hazards and health risk hazards. The CDC, however, is not the only entity that benefits from analyzing health care trends. Medical researchers are interested in health care trends because statistics could lead to medical discoveries. Pharmaceutical manufacturers use trends to create new types of medications.

Benefits

• Health care trends allow analysts to identify what is currently going on and prepare for what will happen in the future. Trends are used as a means of creating projections. For instance, studying the trends of flu season from one year gives doctors an idea of what the flu will be like the following year. This information enables the country to prepare an appropriate number of vaccinations.