In a recent report, the Healthcare Financial Management Association deconstructed trends in consumer-centric healthcare and identified those companies it sees at the forefront of the consumerism movement.
HFMA published the second report in a larger series of four called Health Care 2020. In the latest chapter, HFMA examines the increasing impact of consumerism on healthcare business trends.
In the report, HFMA defined consumerism as "a trend that reflects the growing importance of consumer choice in the healthcare marketplace."
HFMA pointed to the following healthcare organizations as leaders in consumer-oriented care due to their unique efforts in redesigning care delivery.
1. Providence Health & Services in Renton, Wash., is embedding 25 clinics in Walgreens stores across Oregon and Washington state in the next year and opening 25 freestanding walk-in clinics. Open seven days a week, the clinics improve access to routine acute care services and will eventually offer chronic care management.
2. Mount Sinai Health System in New York City signed a bundled joint replacement contract with Building Service 32BJ Health Fund, which provides health benefits to union members. The Health Fund conducted a focus group with union members who had undergone joint replacement surgery to learn about negative and positive experiences. The Health Fund and MSHS then worked together to design a consumer-based care model. MSHS assigned a care navigator to each patient to help schedule medical appointments, create a recovery plan, arrange for the transition home, field follow-up calls and arrange for grocery delivery and other services, if needed.
3. Memorial Hermann Medical Group in Houston has redesigned its patient access strategy to meet the demands of the "walking well" — those consumers who have a stable condition and are seeking care. Memorial Hermann has opened quick-care clinics at 23 grocery stores, added new urgent care facilities, established a telemedicine service and launched a 24-hour nurse triage phone line that helps patients get advice on whether immediate care is needed.
4. UnitedHealthcare implemented the Diabetes Health Plan for eligible enrollees in 2009. About 620 policyholders with diabetes participated in a two-year study, which found 75 percent of DHP members achieved treatment and testing compliance compared to 61 percent of members who did not participate in DHP. UnitedHealthcare has since launched a portfolio of benefit designs and resources modeled on their past success.