On behalf of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Avalere conducted a study on the barriers impeding successful cost-of-care conversations between clinicians and patients.
Below are six thoughts on improving cost-of-care conversations from Avalere.
1. Education and engagement. Patients may have difficulty broaching financial conversations due to a sense of embarrassment or discomfort, or a lack of financial information. Similarly, physicians may feel financial conversations are beyond their clinical imperative. Both patients and physicians may benefit from having clinicians educate patients on cost concerns.
2. Tools and resources. Through analytics tools, physicians may be able to better identify and target patients for whom cost-of-care conversations are high-priority, such as the under-insured, low-income or those with low health literacy.
3. Clinical workflow. By thoroughly integrating clinical and financial information systems, physicians may feel more capable of identifying opportunities to engage in cost-of-care conversations, and more confident of providing patients with viable financial solutions.
4. Training. As clinical and financial systems are married in new ways, physicians may benefit from education programs on how to use financial tools in a clinical context for meaningful patient conversations.
5. Measurement. As the industry puts more emphasis on patient outcomes and experience, physicians may be accountable for facilitating cost-of-care conversations that reduce clinical costs and improve the healthcare experience.
6. Synergy and scaling. To create a holistic care system that serves the individual as both patient and consumer, clinicians must make cost conversations an integral part of the clinical practice.
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