For the last two decades, healthcare has been transitioning to a consumer-driven model. The vision is one to which we can all relate, similar to that of a business or retail model, where patients as consumers can choose the best provider based on a myriad of options, including type of care offered, care quality, and price. It’s utilizing the idea of choice to drive demand. It’s not novel in other business sectors; it’s what makes the business model work – creating customer satisfaction, driving revenue, product and experience differentiation, as well as incentives or promotions.
According to an article published in HealthAffairs, which examines the promise and the performance of re-positioning the patient as a consumer for the last two decades, “much has fallen short of both the aspirations of its proponents and the fears of its critics.”
With that said, hope still springs eternal. Perhaps that is because the integration of patients into the care process, such as welcoming their input and seeing them as consumers, instead of just patients in need of care, truly can elevate the standards of care.
A recent presentation at TEDMED 2013 by Dr. Susan Desmond-Hellmann, the Chancellor of the University of California, San Francisco, discusses the power and influence of the patient’s perspective on healthcare. She shares: “We all want great doctors. But can healthcare consumers make being a doctor a better job?”