Health Consumerism is not a Disruption, it’s a Revolution

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health consumerismPortrait of a happy female surgeon with colleagues at the back

July 23, 2019

By Ken Robbins, CEO of Response Mine Health

We’re in a new era of empowered health consumers with access to unlimited information and endless choices right in their phone. The widespread use of technology, smartphones, and the internet have permitted millions to make more informed healthcare decisions. This empowerment of consumers that enables them to find answers to their burning health-related questions with complete ease and little effort is neither a minor disruption, nor a temporary interruption, but instead, a violent revolution with $3.2 trillion of the North American economy at stake.

We are never going back to using phone books, and now we are never going back to an age where a patient comes into a doctor’s office without a solid opinion or at least a basic understanding of their affliction. Dismissing patients because they are active participants in their diagnosis is a classic mistake, and will cause health providers to fail in the wake of this new era.

Consumerism Throughout History

Consumers making educated decisions are essential to any healthy market, with healthcare being no exception. Throughout American history, consumers have influenced every single market, from entertainment to technology, illustrating that consumer choice is a constant force of change. American consumers made it very clear that they want to bank electronically, trade stocks over the internet, buy and sell goods through platforms, such as eBay, and find their next 6-figure job with the help of social media. This dominant trend of consumerism affecting every single sector has massive implications for the healthcare industry. Patients want to consume healthcare services on their terms, and they’ve begun rewriting the rules of the game.

Changing the Old Paradigm in Healthcare

Providing services the way health consumers want to receive it, has been absent in healthcare. Historically, patients tended to go wherever they were told for whatever procedure or service their doctors ordered. Most people went along with the decision of their physicians because the insurance provider was paying the bill. Today, high-deductible plans, skyrocketing insurance premiums, and the increasing overall financial burden on health consumers are changing this old paradigm.

Multiple Trends in One

Health consumers of today are much more conscious and vigilant. They are far more proactive and fully engaged in the process of making decisions about their health. They understand that their individual choices have a direct impact on their families’ financial well-being. Multiple trends are shaping the landscape, such as self-diagnosis, medical shopping, price transparency, and undoctoring, as consumerism is literally revolutionizing the health space. Patients are no longer afraid to ask questions to understand the implications of their healthcare decisions better. They don’t want to wait in lines, receive surprise bills, face restrictions, limits, or other barriers to their health. They want to control all aspects of their care.

The Power of Choice

In this new era of health consumerism, patients feel strongly about their power to make choices about their health. Even though some insurance plans limit the options, the ability to make selections is still available to most.

Choosing a Provider: Many patients take the time to learn about a provider’s credentials, professional background, and reputation before entrusting a physician with their care. The internet and social media have revolutionized how we gather information. A 2015 survey confirmed these trends, showing that 54% percent of millennials (aged 18-24) search online for health information and rely heavily on physician reviews before seeing a doctor (1). By reading online patient reviews and researching online records for possible lawsuits or complaints, patients make more informed decisions than before.

Choosing Hospitals/Surgery Centers: Not all hospitals are created equal. While some make patient safety a top priority, others fall miles behind. Empowered patients do not hesitate to check the safety ratings of hospitals and outpatient surgery centers before agreeing to undergo a procedure.

Choosing When to Undergo Medical Procedures: Surgeries, medical procedures – even minor ones – can create disruptions in patients’ everyday life. For elective or non-emergent procedures, patients increasingly put themselves in the driver seat by choosing carefully the time they are willing to go under the knife.

Choosing the Healthcare Experience: Improving user experience is essential to attract today’s empowered consumers. Becker’s healthcare study showed that only 5% of online review complaints are about health outcome. 95% is about communications, attitude, and experience with the practice. Although tailoring the healthcare experience sounds like a complicated undertaking, modern technologies make personalization easier than ever before. Smart technology is taking the industry by storm. Wearable devices are one such example of offering a powerful way to help patients monitor their health, stay connected to health experts, and provide enhanced patient experience.

Cost, Convenience & Patient Experience

As consumers become empowered to make choices, healthcare service providers are scrambling to respond by focusing on cost, convenience, and patient experience. Diagnostic centers, for example, find themselves in a situation of having to compete primarily based on price to entice patients to choose their services over their competition. When a doctor recommends a particular diagnostic test or procedure, many people call their insurance company to find out where they can obtain the service at the lowest price in their vicinity.

Shopping around for the best deal in healthcare was unheard of 10-15 years ago. Today,  bargain-hunting is a normal part of how empowered health consumers stretch their hard-earned healthcare dollars. Price transparency is no longer an option or an afterthought in the business of healthcare, but rather a necessity. You can expect severe consumer backlash if you are not upfront with how much patients should expect to pay for the services you render.

With six out of ten Americans living with at least one chronic health condition (2), the number of people taking prescription medications has drastically increased over the years. Pharmacies fill over 4 billion prescriptions each year (3), and this number is expected to climb. With drug prices steadily rising by as much as 6-10% one year over the other (4), health consumers are much more careful when deciding which medications they fill. Conscious health consumers often ask their physicians for two to three different prescriptions that are used to treat the same condition, then fill the script for the one that has the lowest copay through their insurance plan. Looking for the most cost-effective option, especially when taking medications for chronic health conditions, can yield significant savings in the long term.

Patient experience, convenience, and cost are the driving forces behind the massive increase in popularity of “new care options,” such as urgent care centers, retail clinics, and telemedicine over the past two decades. The utilization of these non-emergency type venues rose by 140%, while ER visits declined by 36% over the same period (5). The drop in ER visits was likely due to the high costs and long wait times, making urgent care centers and other similar clinics much more convenient, and far less costly. Especially families with multiple children, who may have a lot of emergencies every year had to face the harsh reality, and change course to avoid sinking into medical debt. Urgent care centers evolved from the need to provide more convenient access to quality physician care than a typical primary care office and at a lower cost than a hospital emergency room.

Health Consumerism, the Revolution

We are clearly in the midst of a patient-led healthcare revolution that is reshaping the landscape and is changing the way healthcare is distributed and delivered. Patients are rapidly transforming into health consumers with clearly defined needs and wants. Just like all revolutions, health consumerism is a complete upheaval because the rebels – in this case, the customers – have aspirations and “rising expectations.” These empowered health consumers expect the healthcare sector to respond to this shift immediately and in a personalized, much more tailored way.

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