While there is no doubt the healthcare industry is shifting toward a more consumer-focused perspective, both providers and payers are moving slowly in adapting to that shift, a new report from Change Healthcare and the HealthCare Executive Group finds.
Here are four takeaways about consumerization from the 10th annual Industry Pulse Report, which surveyed nearly 450 healthcare leaders from payer, provider and third-party vendor organizations.
1. Only 24 percent of payers and less than 20 percent of providers surveyed said they have a "full consumer-centric strategy" in place. About 70 percent of each group said their organizations are in the process of implementing "nascent or intermediate consumer-centric strategies."
2. All of the payer leaders surveyed said their organizations have at least some formal consumer-focused strategy in place or in progress, but 14 percent of providers admitted to having no such strategy whatsoever.
3. Within the increasing focus on consumerism, survey respondents gave payers the edge in terms of being best positioned to provide cost and quality data to consumers. Providers, meanwhile, were overwhelmingly seen as most able to support consumers through their healthcare journeys.
4. As for how those consumerization strategies will play out, the three non-clinical improvements highlighted by respondents as most important for driving consumer satisfaction were online appointment scheduling, translating medical information into layman's terms and providing consumer access to EHRs and provider notes.
View the full report here.
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