For years, consumer demands have played a large role in the airlines, hotel and restaurant industries. Now, as patients begin to shoulder a greater portion of their healthcare costs, they are putting more time and effort into research and making informed decisions related to their care. In the age of healthcare consumerism, hospitals and health systems must better cater to patients' demands for transparency, value and convenience.
"The very fact that patients are now spending more healthcare dollars out-of-pocket empowers them to want to find the best value possible," says John Di Capua, MD, CEO of North American Partners in Anesthesia. "Patients today are more likely to seek information to guide them in their purchases."
When a prospective buyer seeks a new car, there are certain steps he or she takes before making a selection, according to Dr. Di Capua. The buyer might go online to Consumer Reports to compare different cars' ratings, check the car's maintenance records and compare different cars' features. Similarly, a healthcare consumer will likely browse through hospitals' and providers' websites and online reviews to determine who is best equipped to offer them the best care at the best price.
The vast majority of millennials — roughly 80 percent, according to Dr. Di Capua — use the Internet to inform healthcare purchasing decisions. However, hospitals and health systems should not underestimate the extent to which older generations have adopted online tools. Consumers of all ages look for customer survey information, such as CMS' Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems surveys, as well as online reviews such as those published on Healthgrades and Yelp.
The most important thing consumers seek in their online quests for information is value. "It is not uncommon today for someone who is controlling the first $10,000 out of their pocket to say, 'I can get the same procedure done for half the cost with another provider with equally good reviews,'" says Dr. Di Capua.
Information on quality, outcomes and price is increasingly accessible for consumers. However, this means hospitals and physicians are more accountable for providing better services and fair prices.
"If providers hold onto old mechanisms that don't provide better quality at a lower cost, they might find their referral base falling," says Dr. Di Capua. "Once the community knows someone else has created a better program, they will go there and you may not be able to get them back."
In addition to value, convenience also influences patients' decisions. Central to a consumerist society is the expectation and desire for immediacy. For instance, when a consumer writes to Amazon with a problem, a customer service professional responds within an average of 9.75 seconds, according to company statistics released in June 2014. Unfortunately, that type of instantaneous service is largely unavailable in healthcare.
However, hospitals and health systems can fulfill basic requests for timeliness. This is most evident in the registration process, according to Dr. Di Capua. "The physician's office is either set up to be patient friendly and time-efficient, or not," he says. "Do I have to wait a long time to see my doctor? Do I need to fill out numerous forms with redundant questions?"
Providers can gain a competitive edge if they take simple steps to increase convenience for patients, such as through emailing the registration forms ahead of time for patients to fill out at home.
Transparency is the third and most essential component of appealing to a consumerist healthcare market, according to Dr. Di Capua. Without transparent information on the value and price of healthcare services, patients will be unable to gather the information they need. Therefore, hospitals and physician offices that do not take the time or refuse to publish such information ultimately do themselves a disservice. Patients will be more inclined to skip over them during their research.
"The best commitment to patients is making that data public," says Dr. Di Capua. "If I'm researching and I don't find any information, that's a bad sign. Transparency allows me to see what others are saying about a provider. If they don't provide that information, I'm both disappointed and concerned."
Many hospitals and providers are not proud enough of their quality and price information to make it public, which is the first indication change is needed. Although public scrutiny may be uncomfortable, it can also present an opportunity to improve quality and even change culture.
Consumerism in healthcare is not going away. On the contrary, it is only going to grow. Therefore, it behooves all hospitals and health systems to pay attention to the wants and needs of their patients and continually strive to fulfill them.