By Katherine Camargo
U.S. healthcare providers are under tremendous stress due to numerous external pressures including exchanges, rule changes and policy reforms. As daunting as these are, another very different dynamic looms. Driven by the larger consumer culture that has sprung out of the digital economy, these expectations are being applied to healthcare services. This will compel providers to adapt to the very high bar of the evolving experience economy. According to BIA/Kelsey study found that providers spent more than $10 billion on advertising in 2017 to attract consumers/patients to their institutions. That figure will be dwarfed by the investment needed to retain them, through a massive consumer-centric transformation, as consumers/patients demand the kind of services and experiences that retailers and others have gotten them accustomed to.
Consumers/patients increasingly want it all- a high service, high touch, high polish retail experience, and ubiquitous access to information at their fingertips. Here is what Forbes had to say about the digital economy and consumer expectations more than four years ago:
Today's consumers are a digital bunch, and that's an understatement if ever one existed. We're constantly searching, communicating, and checking in. Each action we take, whether we're on our mobile device of choice or at our desktop, has the same end game: Satisfy me. Give me the answer to my search question. Give me a platform to reach out to those around me. Give me a way to share and explore. Oh, and do all those things immediately, if you don't mind.
Providers will find there are pressures to change and create outside of their campuses with demands to offer more care in the community and at home. Efficiently deploying evolving technology will be a steep part of that curve. Telemedicine, Electronic Medical Records, 3D printing, wearable biometric devices and GPS tracking are just some of the technology changes the healthcare system needs to incorporate into their delivery models. Hospitals can only survive if they are places people want to come, not just have to come to because they’re sick. Hospital campuses also need to be physically attractive, offer concierge services and even provide the visual and sensory experiences that retailers and airports have been investing in for years, dining included.
Providers are still getting their heads around it and are starting to act. Their efforts to adapt can be seen everywhere—even in very unexpected places. North Carolina for example, which did not expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, is moving aggressively to value-based reimbursement and the implications for providers are extraordinary. In particular, this change is forcing providers to focus holistically on preventative health, including more aggressive screening and interventions around depression, alcohol consumption, nutrition, transportation and housing. There are so many movements taking shape right now that strongly indicate shifting sands. A fairly conspicuous one, the CVS/ Aetna merger, is a perfect example of the type of consumer-centric trend that all providers should be thinking about right now, with many others in the works.
