What does value mean to you? If you’re in the market for a new TV, you want to know how good the product is and balance it against how much it costs. If it was near the Super Bowl, you’d want to know how fast you could get it, so you’d have it set up for the game. You would comparison shop and see who’s offering a rebate or has the latest holiday sale.
For most sectors, shopping is a deliberate activity. But thanks to a wave of digital health data and technology, thoughtful consumption is coming to health care. The new informed and deliberate health care consumer looks no different than a shopper from another sector of the economy. They compare cost, quality and access. And they look to increase value and save money through discounts and incentives.
The mere ability to pursue value in health care is a huge market shift. Previously, consumers had no means – nor incentives – to shop. Costs were complex and hard to understand. Yet, it hardly mattered what a procedure or test cost since insurance was footing the bill.
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But shifting cost responsibility means shopping matters more. Nearly one in three employers will only offer HDHPs in 2015, up from 22 percent in 2014. On the government exchange, silver plans – the most popular plan type – carry a sizable deductible. For 2015, the average deductible is $2,907 for an individual and $6,078 for a family. Like it or not, consumers are shouldering more of the cost burden.
The search for value in health care isn’t simply about spending less. As with any purchase, it takes multiple dimensions of information to sniff out a product or service that’s high quality and low cost. Cost calculators, quality reviews, rewards and incentives make that task easier.
The exciting part is that the promotion of price, quality, and alternative options holds the opportunity to reduce health care spending across the industry. A recent Managed Care article interviewed several health plan executives offering cash rewards and incentives to members who shop for lower priced, similar quality care. Across the board they reported their shopping programs were forcing providers to course correct their pricing policies.
It works like this: As patients venture over to lower-cost care facilities, hospitals and physicians take notice. Eve Oyer, president of benefits management for Tandem Care in Manchester, N.H., told the publication that after revealing prices to members, providers called to renegotiate lower prices to stay competitive. Some hospital-based labs even moved operations to less expensive offsite facilities, she said.
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The take-away is that shopping will impact every level of health care. Couponing, incentives and other retail-model discounts will become part of the normal shopping experience for patients. And providers will finally have to compete for patients just like the rest of the economy – by offering the best value they can to consumers.
