The second annual ro3 March Healthcare Classic is complete! The four final trends included (14) Workforce Challenges, (14) Omnichannel Care, (1) Medicare Advantage, and (1) Platform. Ultimately, the Selection Committee was in unanimous agreement that (1) Workforce Challenges reigns supreme this year. Although the Committee Members were hesitant to select a “negative” trend as the champion, they acknowledged that the recent impacts on the workforce have been significant and need to be highlighted. 

Stay tuned as we track these trends and how they fare for the remainder of the year. We will be sharing insights on the blog as well as LinkedIn. To read more about the progression of this year’s tournament, check out the summaries below. 

Round 1 

Kicking off Round 1, the Selection Committee shared many thought-provoking perspectives along with entertaining commentary. The four regions this year included the General Trends Region, the Business Model Innovation Region, the Care Delivery Region, and the Data & Technology Region. The initial bracket included many Newcomer Trends along with Holdover Trends from 2021.

Round 2 and Round of 16 

In the General Trends Region, the Committee Members focused heavily on (14) Workforce Challenges, noting its impact on the industry. In the Business Model Innovation Region, powerhouse (1) Medicare Advantage continued its winning streak from last year, coming out victorious in both Round 2 and the Round of 16.

The Selection Committee noted that the Care Delivery Region was a bit immature this year. Many of the trends, such as (8) Behavioral Health, have been getting plenty of attention but have yet to transform care at scale. Finally, the Data & Technology Region had the most divided viewpoints from our Selection Committee. Specifically, the Committee Members had varying opinions about what the trend (1) Platform implies.

Round of 8 

In the Round of 8 Analysis, we compared the Community’s Picks to the Selection Committee’s picks. While many of the Community Picks differed from that of the Selection Committee, (1) Medicare Advantage in the Business Model Innovation Region received unanimous support from the Community as well as the Committee Members.

Journey From the Top Four to the Champion

The semi-finals shaped up to be an extremely competitive round, with two 1 seeds and two 14 seeds facing off. From the General Trends region, (14) Workforce Challenges competed against (14) Omnichannel Care from the Care Delivery region. (1) Medicare Advantage was the top pick from the Business Model Innovation region and went up against (1) Platform from the Data & Technology Region. 

Although (14) Omnichannel Care was ultimately cut in the semi-finals, one Committee Member predicted that it will be a strong trend next year. While (14) Workforce Challenges was crowned as the champion, the Selection Committee noted that it will be in the forefront for the next couple years and hoped new solutions would be uncovered.

Special thank you to the Selection Committee and everyone who participated in this year’s bracket. The 2022 March Healthcare Classic was a huge success, and we are already looking forward to next year’s bracket.