Healthcare needs to be more convenient for the patient – this & 2 more thoughts from Uberdoc Founder and CEO Paula Muto

In this special Speaker Series, Becker's Healthcare caught up with Paula Muto, MD, founder and CEO of Uberdoc.

Dr. Muto will speak on a panel during the Becker's Hospital Review 4th Annual Health IT + Revenue Cycle Conference on "Evolving Technology, Disruptors, and Regulatory Issues in HIT," at 2:45 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 19. Learn more about the event and register to attend in Chicago.

Question: In the past 12 months, how have you adapted to new patient experience expectations in the age of consumerism?

Dr. Paula Muto: In the past year, we have seen mergers of insurance companies with large retailers — CVS and Aetna as well as Walmart and Humana. This reflects a cosmic shift away from the traditional path of trusted family physician to hospital to specialist. Walk-in [appointments] offer not just convenience but access to care. We must ask ourselves why our current system has become so inaccessible and unappealing to patients. Perhaps it's because their insurance is not just over priced, [but] it doesn't completely cover the services or, simply, doesn't solve the problem.

At Uberdoc, our core mission is direct access to a specialist at a single price. We soon realized patients didn't know enough about their actual bill to appreciate the value of our model. We thought we would be considered pricier, [but] it turns out $300 is cheaper than the copays now listed on the front of a typical insurance card. To be successful, we realized we had to [spend less time on the price point] and more time empowering patients to look for what's best for them. So, we gave it to the doctors for free to remove any barrier to participation.

Q: What is the biggest barrier to price transparency in the healthcare industry?

PM: Fear. Insurance companies, big networks and large institutions fear losing market share. Patients and doctors, however, would benefit enormously.

Ever since insurance companies stepped in to take the patient payment on behalf of the provider, the perceived value of the doctor-patient encounter gradually diminished.  Patients stopped caring about the price because they were isolated from the bill. As soon as deductibles and copays were introduced, patients and doctors began to question the price but at that point were powerless in changing it, having relinquished that responsibility years before. Now, the prices are unregulated, plans contradictory and fees tacked on like an airline does for your luggage.

If the system was transparent, and patients had control of their healthcare dollars, there would be less incentive to pay more for plans that offer no advantage. Introduce a better payment option, like a Health Savings Account, and the patient drives the marketplace, and the price adjusts appropriately. The over-priced insurance plans and the systems that enable them will be threatened, hence a huge barrier to change.

Q: What's one conviction in healthcare that needs to be challenged?

PM: The one conviction that needs to change is the belief the patient doesn't know what's best for them. Medicine is not the same as public health, as individual priorities are not always in alignment with "the greater good". But that does not mean they are mutually exclusive. Medical technology has evolved rapidly, yet we plan for the future by looking at the past. Not long ago, cancer therapy was delivered in a hospital, then at a cancer center. Now, [it is delivered] at home with a pill designed for you. We don't need a big clunky system of "beds." We need diverse, flexible points of access built around what is convenient for the patient, not what is best for the network. The delivery of care should be local and efficient, designed for the individual. Medicine is about the individual and should not be confused with public health.

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