Modern Healthcare Consumer

With the ACA now in place since 2010, a wave of new health-centered consumer technologies such as wearables and smartphone apps and price transparency software to help consumers make informed care purchase decisions, healthcare consumers should be empowered to take ownership of their health. But have healthcare consumers really changed? Not as much as you may think. Though technology may be changing at lightning speed, people are still people. The changing variables are scientific discovery, technology advancement and the costs associated with healthcare delivery. There may be no better example of how many people are unchanging than the obesity epidemic.

About 78% of consumers say they would be interested in receiving virtual health services, but only 1 in 5 has had that opportunity, according to a new survey from Accenture conducted by Nielsen.Physicians could save big money by providing more virtual services in combination with seeing patients in their offices, said Frances Dare, Accenture managing director of virtual health services.
About $7 billion worth of primary-care physicians' time annually could be saved if patients could shift annual exams out of the doctor's office to home; do electronic visits for after-care and question-answering; and if they didn't have to go to the doctor for certain chronic disease management, such as for hypertension and diabetes, Dare said. Accenture made those estimates by analyzing federal health data, she said.

Providers who ignore that consumers desire the convenience and cost-savings of virtual healthcare are likely to see patients turn to competitors “willing to make it available,” Dare said.“Consumers are clear: In the 21st century, 20th century healthcare is not good enough,” she said.The Accenture survey included 1,501 consumers who answered questions online in October.
For the 1 in 5 respondents who had received care virtually, the reasons they cited most often for seeking virtual care are: greater convenience than traditional in-person healthcare services (cited by 37%); familiarity using technology to manage their health (34%); and curiosity to try virtual health (34%).

Consumers said they would be more likely to “try virtual” if encouraged by a physician (cited by 44% of respondents) or a healthcare payer (31%).

Dr. Bill Conway, CEO of the 1,100-physician Henry Ford Medical Group in Detroit, said patients of the Henry Ford Health System are making 3 million visits annually via the online My Chart system to check their health records or make appointments remotely using the secured personal portal built as part of the system's Epic health records platform.

There are more consumer engagement tools and programs than ever before. Yet, most of these programs are delivered with a one-size-fits-all approach, and the consumer experience is still very fragmented. So, what is really needed to empower consumers? The right message and the right tools must be delivered through the right channels at precisely the right time to drive desired outcomes. From incentive program and advocacy services to digital tools, transparency solutions and more – what has the greatest potential to increase fluency and engagement, to support decision-making, and to influence behavior? We’ll get to see in the years to come.