This article previously appeared as an AMA Marketing News posting.

The new year represents an optimal time to examine the latest shifts in healthcare marketing opportunities.

Overall in 2019, we’re likely to see hospital and healthcare marketers work harder to connect with consumers online, to focus on specific consumer needs, and to meet those needs via more channels than just the typical office visit. Here are nine trends as we head into 2019 that offer hospital and healthcare marketers a chance to stay ahead of the curve.

A new billing code could help hospitals promote the use of wearables to improve lives for patients with chronic conditions.

Chronic disease is a critical and growing problem for Americans. While women and men experience conditions at different rates, women tend to be affected earlier in life, and thus need care longer. According to the CDC, nearly half of Americans have a chronic disease, and per a March 2018 study in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, the number is growing.

How a cultural shift is affecting the healthcare industry

This article previously appeared on Forbes.

Sexism comes in many forms and has profound and lasting consequences, but it’s particularly galling when it happens in a place meant for healing. Because of recent headline stories in publications such as Vogue, The Atlantic and The New York Times, as well as documentaries on Netflix and highlights in podcasts, women who have been dismissed or gaslighted by their doctors now know they have strength in numbers. And they’re demanding change.