The advent of healthcare marketplaces was supposed to usher in an era of consumerism in the industry. Instead of taking health provider or family recommendations at face value, people would use the data available to them to make more informed, rational choices. Economists have estimated that more than $30 billion could be saved if people avoided the ED and chose lower-cost providers.
If only healthcare was that simple.
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Rachel Sokol Rachel Sokol is currently the Head of Healthcare Research at Olive, analyzing Olive’s data to share insights with the healthcare community. Prior to Olive, Rachel spent over a decade at the Advisory Board leading payer and provider research teams to surface best practices. She worked closely with executives to understand their key strategic […]
Often, researching options for the lowest-cost providers or avoiding the emergency room is more than one person can handle. We’re expecting too much from patients. Asking them to also behave as a “consumer” of healthcare is unrealistic. It’s time for technology developers to step up and step in by arming health providers with the support and technology resources they need, so patients can receive the best care possible.
The current healthcare system requires two roles — one person to experience the clinical side of healthcare (“the patient”) and one to manage the operations (“the consumer”). While some people are fortunate to have someone who can “be their consumer,” many others don’t. Instead, they have to remember their medications, follow up on paperwork, set appointments and manage other responsibilities while undergoing clinical care. Essentially they’re operating as their own caregiver.
The Internet of Healthcare Report conducted by Wakefield Research on behalf of Olive found patients spend an average of 19 minutes recovering lost passwords in healthcare. The healthcare industry espouses the time savings that AI and automation can provide. Mostly, we hear about the time savings providers will see — 90 minutes on average — from avoiding operational work. But we forget to mention (and value) the time patients spend on healthcare administrative work. This is time sick patients don’t have. It’s time that is uncompensated. And often it falls on women to make time for this.
When we say healthcare should be “consumer-driven,” what we mean is “caregiver-led.” At its most extreme, healthcare is punishing and could even be dangerous for people without help.
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.
People need someone (especially if they have more complex conditions) to manage the nonmedical aspects of care. But for those without a companion or person they trust, AI can step in and fill that role. Technology can help with some of the tasks traditionally handled by a caregiver.
Patients often say that having their medical history accessible to them could help improve outcomes. That’s something a human could provide, but AI can support. It’s the equivalent of a friend who remembers things for you. Everyone deserves this kind of friend.
AI can transfer information between sites, create smarter privacy controls and remind patients of the passwords they spend 19 minutes looking for. AI can take on this operational role and save patients precious time and energy.
When organizations invest in AI, they’re offering a service that can step into that role for their patients. By investing in AI, organizations support both patients and their caregivers.
It’s possible that patients won’t know they have an AI “caregiver.” They won’t digitally enter or retrieve data themselves. Instead, the information they need will have already been sent where it needs to go. It’s the behind-the-scenes work that makes this a seamless, supportive experience, and that allows patients to ultimately focus on what’s most important: getting better.
Photo: metamorworks, Getty Images
Rachel Sokol is currently the Head of Healthcare Research at Olive, analyzing Olive’s data to share insights with the healthcare community. Prior to Olive, Rachel spent over a decade at the Advisory Board leading payer and provider research teams to surface best practices. She worked closely with executives to understand their key strategic challenges and how they did (and didn’t) use their own data to answer these questions. She has published several research studies on value-based care, high risk care management, and plan-provider relations.
Most recently, Rachel spent a year at CVS/Aetna evaluating the performance of various clinical and consumer products. She has a degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.
