If patients play a bigger role in their own healthcare, care coordination and outcomes in general will improve. This may seem like common sense, but until the industry's relatively recent focus on preventive medicine and population health management, the vast majority of patients only saw their providers when illness already struck. Now, with the prevalence of smartphones, tablets and other technology, patient engagement has never been so accessible.
Joanne Rohde, founder and CEO of Axial Exchange, a provider of patient engagement mobile applications, can attest to the health and financial benefits of patient engagement on population health management programs. Healthcare apps and other technology are being adopted by health systems and valued by patients to continue communication and supply resources to patients outside the walls of the hospital, leading to new levels of patient engagement.
Axial Exchange provides a solution that health systems can customize and provide their patients with to sustain contact and care outside of hospitals. It offers educational resources about diseases and other health issues with trusted information that is tailored to each individual. It also helps patients manage their medications and track symptoms. "Axial Exchange gives patients a 360 degree picture of themselves," Ms. Rohde said. All of the information tracked through the app is then shared with the health system sponsoring it to enhance future encounters with providers.
In addition to aiding population health management efforts, such technology, including apps like Axial, provide new ways for patients with complex or chronic conditions to better track and manage biometrics and symptoms on their own, thereby reducing trips to the physician's office and ultimately, healthcare spending.
"The data is just starting to prove what we've all intuitively known. If a patient is engaged in their own care — meaning they have some level of measurable knowledge about their disease, adherence to the care plan and an understanding of their biometrics so they know when they're getting better or worse, and subsequently, so they can link what behavior leads to these effects — the results are staggering," Ms. Rohde said.
According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, in 2012 (the most recent year from which data is available), U.S. healthcare expenditures totaled $1.35 trillion. However, medical care expenses are highly concentrated among certain populations.
The survey found the top 1 percent of the population ranked by healthcare expenses accounted for nearly 23 percent of total healthcare expenditures with an average cost of $97,956 per year per patient. The top 5 percent of the population accounted for 50 percent of total expenditures with an average annual expenditure of $43,058 per patient.
The five most costly medical conditions in 2012 were heart disease, trauma-related disorders, cancer, mental disorders and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
By aiming population health efforts and encouraging patient engagement among these small but more costly populations, providers can help keep patients healthy while lowering associated costs.
The fact is, the cost of healthcare is rising for both patients and providers, so it's in everyone financial interest to be proactive. But now patients, through the regular use of new healthcare technology, can take the reins of their own health.