Healthcare Vital Signs

Guest Authors Even if you don’t track healthcare statistics, you’ve likely felt it. Beginning as a trickle, healthcare consumerism is now becoming a torrent that is reshaping the healthcare industry. Buying healthcare is not the same as buying groceries or a car, nor is it similar to seeking service expertise, such as financial planning advice. Presently, access to information regarding the quality of care or its costs is often not readily available to patients, which complicates their ability to make informed choices about their treatment, regardless of their preferences. Also, measuring consumers’ preferences and how they might affect healthcare buying patterns remains elusive. A 2016 study by McKinsey & Co. noted significant disconnections between what healthcare consumers say is most important to them in regards to healthcare choices and what correlates with their actual satisfaction levels. A one-size-fits-all consumer strategy is unlikely to meet the diverse needs of most existing healthcare providers’ patients. Instead, successful strategies for organizations require careful analysis of both their existing patient base and their preferences for receiving and paying for care, as well as the healthcare providers’ goals – clinical, operational and financial. Consumer preferences vary significantly depending on the age of the patient. The Advisory Board Company, a highly regarded healthcare consultancy and advisory firm, surveyed thousands of consumers across the U.S. and found the following key distinctions in consumer preferences by age and type of care required. Healthcare consumerism is a movement advocating patients’ involvement in their health care decisions – a transformation from the ‘doctor-says-patient-does’ model to a two-way partnership. The movement encourages health information empowerment and knowledge transfer so patients can be informed and engaged in the decision-making process about the kind of doctor they visit, the treatment they receive and how much they pay. Healthcare consumerism is being shaped by several industry-specific features that impede and redirect its force. For starters, the presence of public or private payors between patients and medical providers distorts the price/value decision-making process typical in most consumer markets. WHAT IS HEALTHCARE CONSUMERISM? THE PULSE ON HEALTHCARE CONSUMERISM A COLLABORATION BETWEEN DAVID KERR, TIM COUCH AND LORIE DAMON. 34 | CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD