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.

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