Here’s the paradox.
A growing number of health care professionals understand that a wave of consumerism is taking hold of the industry, but few health organizations have strategic insights about their own patients.
That’s the big takeaway from the first annual State of Consumerism in Healthcare report conducted by consulting firms Kaufman Hall and Cadent Consulting Group. The report, released this month, surveyed executives at more than 100 U.S. hospitals and health systems and found that while two-thirds of respondents believe that developing insights into patients’ behaviors and expectations are critical, less than one-quarter of healthcare organizations have the means to gather and analyze meaningful patient data.
It seems like a simple semantics game, recharacterizing patients as consumers. But as individuals have more control over their own healthcare, and more healthcare decisions continue to shift to individuals in the wake of nationwide healthcare reform passed into law in 2010, health organizations will have to adapt in order to keep patients.
“Providers of care are starting to realize that they need to compete in the marketplace just like any other business does,” said Paul Crnkovich, managing director at Kaufman Hall.
Even in states like Pennsylvania, where major insurance providers have decided to pull out of ACA healthcare marketplaces and therefore the idea of competition for patients might seem illusory, consumerism is a growing concern.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
“You’re right in that the number of insurance providers is having an impact of choice in terms of what plan you sign up for, but once you’re in that plan, you’ll have multiple choices in terms of where you spend that dollar,” Crnkovich said. “Hospital systems primarily are getting a big wake-up call in terms of their need to be more customer-centric in their offerings.”
The report highlighted resistance to change, a lack of urgency, and overall skepticism among doctors and health organizations as key reasons why they feel they don’t need to compete for patients. One survey respondent even replied, “Show me the data that suggests people are shopping; wake me up when that happens.”
But Crnkovich says people are being more choosy in where they decided to get their healthcare. “With high-deductible healthcare plans, we have choices,” he says. “Now providers of care have to understand who my consumers are and how do I deliver better than anyone else.”
The report mentions how the U.S. pharmaceutical industry has responded well to growing consumerism in healthcare. Over the last several years, pharmaceutical companies increased advertising spending from $3.83 billion to $5.4 billion to reach customers, and in turn saw sales increase from $328 billion to $413 billion.
So what should hospitals and health systems do?
Find new ways to get patients access to healthcare, Crnkovich says. That might mean digital infrastructure such as an online scheduling system for appointments or physical infrastructure like a walk-in or urgent care clinic. The survey pointed out that 35 percent of respondents offer virtual visits for patients, and the same percentage of respondents now offer end-to-end patient experience assessments in order to grade their own efforts in delivering healthcare.
“At the end of the day healthcare providers have to think: Who are my customers? What do they want? And how do I deliver on those needs better than anybody else?” Crnkovich said. “It’s like any other business.”
Photo: atibodyphoto, Getty Images
