The fall 2015 ACO and Emergency Healthcare Delivery Coalition meeting focused on the most essential tool healthcare providers need to thrive in a valued-based world: effective patient engagement.
With provider compensation increasingly tied to patient outcomes, a physician's financial livelihood is increasingly tethered to his/her skill — or system — for getting patients to take medications, follow instructions, show up for appointments, eat properly and exercise.
Below are three areas in patient engagement for hospitals and health systems to focus on in 2016:
1. Poor medication management drives up healthcare costs. Problems in pharmacy management account for 31 percent of all adverse hospital events and $11.2 billion in annual care costs, with this number set to reach $19 billion by 2024, according to senior director of Leavitt Partners Kristina Lunner. Accountable care organization pharmacies should concentrate on medication management solutions to reduce errors and improve quality rather than focusing on controlling costs.
2. Patient as customer. Using data to predict customer behavior is not new — healthcare just hasn't always treated the patient like a customer. Given what patients are spending on healthcare, experts expect that to change. Providers often blame patients for not making appointments or sticking with physical therapy instead of asking patients what's keeping them from getting the care they need. Tailoring treatment to unique patient needs will improve medical outcomes and provider compensation, according to the report.
3. Increasing patient financial responsibility. Direct payments by consumers represent the largest source of spending on healthcare. Traditional purchasers of healthcare, such as employers, historically make choices that benefit most of their workers; the individual consumer is going to do what is best for him or herself personally. High deductibles, co-payments and out-of-pocket costs may prevent patients from seeking timely care.