Business has always driven growth in healthcare, and now healthcare is driving growth in business. According to ModernHealthcare.com, healthcare added more jobs than any other sector in 2016. Here are five ways business impacts healthcare today.

Turning Rising Costs into Opportunities

Healthcare costs are rising rapidly, and in the midst of government turmoil over how to address it, businesses are finding opportunities to grow profits and improve patient outcomes. Instead of needing to manage an entire healthcare overhaul, startups are agile enough to address smaller (but still critical) problems like organ shortages and diabetes care.

Offering Patients Choices

Many people feel trapped when it comes to healthcare, especially since sick patients don’t have time to be picky. This is even more true in rural areas, where access to cutting-edge medicine is limited. Businesses address this gap by offering patients options: telemedicine, health-oriented smartphone apps, and privately owned urgent-care clinics are all examples of areas where business leads the way.

Transforming Technological Dreams into Reality

New innovations need to be put into practice to be helpful, and business is uniquely situated to bring these ideas to life. The internet has facilitated massive healthcare growth, and companies like Pacific Integrated Manufacturing Inc. offer manufacturing that enables healthcare and life science companies to get their products to market. Without business, many breakthroughs would just languish in academia–now, patients can have access to the very latest in healthcare technology.

Bringing New Pharmaceuticals to Market

Pharmaceutical companies must carefully balance affordability for the patient and their own bottom line. They are one of the greatest private sector influences on healthcare. New medications are expensive to create and test, but these companies still managed to bring 46 new drugs to market in 2017 according to the FDA.

Removing Barriers

Businesses can make regulations and procedures easier to navigate for doctors and patients alike by offering new avenues for care. For example, e-medicine is a burgeoning new field that can help chronically ill patients stay on top of their health keep only mildly sick patients out of ERs. This frees up precious time for patients and doctors.

Business and healthcare work in tandem to move medicine and the economy forward. New ideas are brought to life every day with the help of new technological and manufacturing processes, and this innovation is for everyone’s benefit.