Finding the right technology to transform the patient experience in an ailing health care system
April 05, 2018
By Robert E. Grant
In the same way technology has transformed retail by putting consumers in the driver's seat, remarkable wearables, robotics and insurer-driven health care apps are undoubtedly giving patients the power to take control of their health, from monitoring their heart rate to addressing gaps in care.
In fact, these innovations coupled with telemedicine – a formidable virtual-engagement trend, promising greater convenience and ease in obtaining health care services – are bringing the U.S. one step closer to a retail-like health care model. But is this really what patients want and need?
At this year's HIMSS conference in Las Vegas, more than 40,000 health IT professionals, clinicians, executives and vendors from around the world gathered to address not only industry best practices and new technologies, but also new approaches to care that would be based on value and patient engagement rather than the bottom line. And it's about time. With the current U.S. model based on fees for services and prioritizing insurance providers and pharmaceutical companies first, patients continue to find themselves at the bottom of a soaring $3.4 trillion industry.
Like retail, travel and utilities are experiencing great success in improving customer satisfaction, utilizing similar technologies that simplify everything – from purchasing to payments. So it seems only logical that by applying the same principles and technologies to the health care sector, the patient experience would improve dramatically. But it has not. Instead, the chasm between patient and doctor has only grown wider. Here's why: Health care is something people seek primarily when they are sick. And it isn't likely an experience or "purchase" most enjoy. In fact, according to Linda Girgis, M.D., author of Our Broken Healthcare System, the average American avoids seeking medical care until it is necessary, primarily because of the high copays and the lack of confidence in doctors. In her recent article, published in Physician's Weekly, she states that the average patient is losing trust in doctors, who [they believe] no longer listen to their concerns nor truly care what they want or need. Girgis suggests that patient dissatisfaction is largely a result of third parties – insurers – which are increasingly dictating the way care is provided and how a patient is perceived.
Underscoring this growing sentiment, Timothy J. Hoff, professor of management, health care systems and health policy at Northeastern University, and a visiting associate Fellow at Oxford University, provides the first qualitative, critical examination of the doctor-patient relationship in his book, Next in Line: Lowered Care Expectations in the Age of Retail and Value-based Health. Interviewing a sample pool of 80 patients and doctors, he concludes that it is the lack of emotional support and customized help that contribute most to the frustration and disappointment most patients experience. More specifically, his research reveals that patients do not want a transactional-type experience if it means sacrificing real relationship-based care. And no one in his study prioritized wearables, web-based symptom assessment or visits to a mega-chain pharmacy over a physical visit with a trusted doctor or specialist. What patients truly desire, he says, is a "long-term personal connection with a doctor ... something human and more intimate," further stating that patients highly regard regular one-on-one interactions with experts they know and trust who are compassionate, empathetic, friendly and respectful.
But doctors are not solely to blame for this shift. Undoubtedly, the health care mergers-and-acquisitions (M&A) epidemic that in 2017 accounted for $723.7 billion in deals out of the global $5 trillion M&A total for all industries, has contributed significantly in preventing doctors from delivering the care patients need and deserve. So, too, have ever-changing government regulations and higher-premium insurance policies with high deductibles, cumbersome prior-authorization requirements and unreasonably limited coverage. Either way, there exists a dire need for change, and one that places the ultimate consumer – the patient – at the forefront, particularly as on-demand applications create a growing population of on-demand consumers.
At the heart of health care, there may be nothing more important than time and attention, particularly when it comes to a health emergency. But even with the U.S. spending more on health care than any other country in the world at $10,348 per person, which amounts to nearly 18 percent of gross domestic product, it still takes, on average, 50 percent longer to see a family medicine doctor and 30 percent longer (24 days or more) for a patient to get an appointment with a new doctor, in comparison to just three years ago, according to a 2017 Merritt Hawkins survey. With the present deadly flu season, which began in October 2017 and has claimed the lives of 119 children as of March 2018 according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), that waiting game has become a matter of life and death.
Even as Americans come to terms with and resign to health care costs that have reached an all-time high, it is indisputable that patients continue to pay more while receiving less. In addition to an increasing number of reports highlighting this troubling predicament, Mirror, Mirror 2017: International Comparison Reflects Flaws and Opportunities for Better U.S. Health Care released by the Commonwealth Fund, puts into harsh perspective just how far America's health care system has plummeted. Rather than leading the world, the U.S. has fallen to last place on a list of the top 11 countries with similar high-income populations, scoring poorly in nearly every category, including administrative efficiency and health care outcomes, and reinforcing the notion that high spend is no guarantee for high quality.
While the future of health care is certain to include groundbreaking technology-driven solutions such as protected data-sharing innovations like blockchain and smartwatches that can detect early warning signs of a stroke or heart attack, health care's transformation via new technology will ultimately depend on one singular factor: giving patients what they want. Consider the recent research findings released at HIMSS by NTT DATA Services, a recognized leader in global technology services that surveyed 1,000 patients. In addition to a majority (59 percent) revealing their desire for doctors and care facilities to use advanced digital technologies to improve the overall patient experience, 81 percent expressed a need for a faster and easier way to search for a doctor or a specialist, while 79 percent hoped new technology would improve the process of making or changing an appointment.
In order to prioritize patients first in a multitrillion-dollar industry, health care innovators and leaders must strive to deliver the same kind of consumer-centric experience the retail, real estate, utilities and travel sectors, among others, have successfully achieved, without leaving patients feeling as if they are nothing more than a seven-digit identification number. Particularly in this era of efficiency-driven innovation and technology, the tools that can eliminate agonizing wait times, bypass the bureaucratic specialist referral process and simplify everything from paperwork to appointment setting will get the industry off to a good start in the race to transform an ailing health care system. Offering a promising cure that not only puts consumers at the center of the health care experience but also enables doctors to practice to their highest potential, technology holds the key in returning the U.S. to its rightful place as a pioneer in advancing the health and wellness of every individual on the planet.
About the Author: Robert E. Grant is founder and chief executive officer of CONCIERGE KEY Health, the first mobile app that provides on-demand access to elite doctors, urgent care clinics and hospitals nationwide. An entrepreneur, inventor and investor, he has played a pivotal role for more than 20 years in successful technology and business development in pharmaceutical, medical device and health care markets. In addition to founding CONCIERGE KEY, Grant is founder and vice chairman of ALPHAEON Corporation, as well as founder, chairman and managing partner of its parent company, Strathspey Crown Holdings LLC. Most recently, Grant was CEO and president of Bausch+Lomb Surgical, leading the significant growth of its product portfolio. From 2006 to 2010, he served as president of Allergan Medical, leading the $3.2 billion Inamed acquisition and the commercial success of the Botox Cosmetic, Juvederm, Natrelle breast implants and Lap-Band brands. Grant also served as director, board chairman, CEO, president, COO and CFO of Biolase Technology from 2003 to 2006 after holding various senior management positions at Lumenis for six years.
In the same way technology has transformed retail by putting consumers in the driver's seat, remarkable wearables, robotics and insurer-driven health care apps are undoubtedly giving patients the power to take control of their health, from monitoring their heart rate to addressing gaps in care.
In fact, these innovations coupled with telemedicine – a formidable virtual-engagement trend, promising greater convenience and ease in obtaining health care services – are bringing the U.S. one step closer to a retail-like health care model. But is this really what patients want and need?
At this year's HIMSS conference in Las Vegas, more than 40,000 health IT professionals, clinicians, executives and vendors from around the world gathered to address not only industry best practices and new technologies, but also new approaches to care that would be based on value and patient engagement rather than the bottom line. And it's about time. With the current U.S. model based on fees for services and prioritizing insurance providers and pharmaceutical companies first, patients continue to find themselves at the bottom of a soaring $3.4 trillion industry.
Like retail, travel and utilities are experiencing great success in improving customer satisfaction, utilizing similar technologies that simplify everything – from purchasing to payments. So it seems only logical that by applying the same principles and technologies to the health care sector, the patient experience would improve dramatically. But it has not. Instead, the chasm between patient and doctor has only grown wider. Here's why: Health care is something people seek primarily when they are sick. And it isn't likely an experience or "purchase" most enjoy. In fact, according to Linda Girgis, M.D., author of Our Broken Healthcare System, the average American avoids seeking medical care until it is necessary, primarily because of the high copays and the lack of confidence in doctors. In her recent article, published in Physician's Weekly, she states that the average patient is losing trust in doctors, who [they believe] no longer listen to their concerns nor truly care what they want or need. Girgis suggests that patient dissatisfaction is largely a result of third parties – insurers – which are increasingly dictating the way care is provided and how a patient is perceived.
Underscoring this growing sentiment, Timothy J. Hoff, professor of management, health care systems and health policy at Northeastern University, and a visiting associate Fellow at Oxford University, provides the first qualitative, critical examination of the doctor-patient relationship in his book, Next in Line: Lowered Care Expectations in the Age of Retail and Value-based Health. Interviewing a sample pool of 80 patients and doctors, he concludes that it is the lack of emotional support and customized help that contribute most to the frustration and disappointment most patients experience. More specifically, his research reveals that patients do not want a transactional-type experience if it means sacrificing real relationship-based care. And no one in his study prioritized wearables, web-based symptom assessment or visits to a mega-chain pharmacy over a physical visit with a trusted doctor or specialist. What patients truly desire, he says, is a "long-term personal connection with a doctor ... something human and more intimate," further stating that patients highly regard regular one-on-one interactions with experts they know and trust who are compassionate, empathetic, friendly and respectful.
But doctors are not solely to blame for this shift. Undoubtedly, the health care mergers-and-acquisitions (M&A) epidemic that in 2017 accounted for $723.7 billion in deals out of the global $5 trillion M&A total for all industries, has contributed significantly in preventing doctors from delivering the care patients need and deserve. So, too, have ever-changing government regulations and higher-premium insurance policies with high deductibles, cumbersome prior-authorization requirements and unreasonably limited coverage. Either way, there exists a dire need for change, and one that places the ultimate consumer – the patient – at the forefront, particularly as on-demand applications create a growing population of on-demand consumers.
At the heart of health care, there may be nothing more important than time and attention, particularly when it comes to a health emergency. But even with the U.S. spending more on health care than any other country in the world at $10,348 per person, which amounts to nearly 18 percent of gross domestic product, it still takes, on average, 50 percent longer to see a family medicine doctor and 30 percent longer (24 days or more) for a patient to get an appointment with a new doctor, in comparison to just three years ago, according to a 2017 Merritt Hawkins survey. With the present deadly flu season, which began in October 2017 and has claimed the lives of 119 children as of March 2018 according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), that waiting game has become a matter of life and death.
Even as Americans come to terms with and resign to health care costs that have reached an all-time high, it is indisputable that patients continue to pay more while receiving less. In addition to an increasing number of reports highlighting this troubling predicament, Mirror, Mirror 2017: International Comparison Reflects Flaws and Opportunities for Better U.S. Health Care released by the Commonwealth Fund, puts into harsh perspective just how far America's health care system has plummeted. Rather than leading the world, the U.S. has fallen to last place on a list of the top 11 countries with similar high-income populations, scoring poorly in nearly every category, including administrative efficiency and health care outcomes, and reinforcing the notion that high spend is no guarantee for high quality.
While the future of health care is certain to include groundbreaking technology-driven solutions such as protected data-sharing innovations like blockchain and smartwatches that can detect early warning signs of a stroke or heart attack, health care's transformation via new technology will ultimately depend on one singular factor: giving patients what they want. Consider the recent research findings released at HIMSS by NTT DATA Services, a recognized leader in global technology services that surveyed 1,000 patients. In addition to a majority (59 percent) revealing their desire for doctors and care facilities to use advanced digital technologies to improve the overall patient experience, 81 percent expressed a need for a faster and easier way to search for a doctor or a specialist, while 79 percent hoped new technology would improve the process of making or changing an appointment.
In order to prioritize patients first in a multitrillion-dollar industry, health care innovators and leaders must strive to deliver the same kind of consumer-centric experience the retail, real estate, utilities and travel sectors, among others, have successfully achieved, without leaving patients feeling as if they are nothing more than a seven-digit identification number. Particularly in this era of efficiency-driven innovation and technology, the tools that can eliminate agonizing wait times, bypass the bureaucratic specialist referral process and simplify everything from paperwork to appointment setting will get the industry off to a good start in the race to transform an ailing health care system. Offering a promising cure that not only puts consumers at the center of the health care experience but also enables doctors to practice to their highest potential, technology holds the key in returning the U.S. to its rightful place as a pioneer in advancing the health and wellness of every individual on the planet.
Robert E. Grant