Gone are the days when the doctor's words were considered to be from the unwritten Bible- to be heard and followed verbatim. Today's patients are more knowledgeable, aware and enlightened. They want to be fully conscious of their own health decisions. Welcome to the era of patient empowerment and consumerism in healthcare.
What is meant by "consumerism in healthcare"?
Consumerism in healthcare is an ideology that allows the patients to take their own healthcare decision consciously. It is a paradigm shift from following "the doctor's orders" to listening to "what the patient says/needs". It offers a working partnership between the physician and patient with the responsibility and commitment being shared equally by both. It fosters better physician-patient cooperation and promotes better medication adherence by the patients. With awareness mounting on the patient side, physicians are bound to be doubly careful in all the treatment decisions they take for the patient. On the other hand, patients have more responsibility toward maintaining their own health by adopting a healthier lifestyle.
What does consumerism in healthcare offer for the patient?
What does consumerism in healthcare offer for the patient?
- With healthcare digital consumerism, patients are exposed to a wider range of healthcare and hospital options via the internet, social media and mobile apps. They are also aware of the pros and con of each treatment procedure and are even well-informed about the operating procedure to the last detail. Patients hence have the liberty of "checking out" or "shopping around" for hospital or healing options to get the best treatment deals.
- Secondly, patients have more exposure and access to medical insurance, health plans and retirement benefits. This offers them more purchasing power to select or shape healthcare services as per their budget and need.
- Although healthcare consumerism statistics reveal that only 15% of the Indian population has health insurance, the recent health plan offered by the Indian government like Modicare or PMJAY-the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana aims at bringing at least half-a-billion people under insurance cover.
- Consumerism in healthcare thus promises affordable and easily accessible healthcare options for the patients in India with the hope of a healthier tomorrow.
What does consumerism in healthcare signify for the hospitals?
- This kind of supreme patient engagement importance offered by consumerism in healthcare force the hospital operations management to spruce up and improve its efficiency and service. Hospitals are forced to cut down on their in-patient, bed, and treatment costs while offering the same sterling service to the patients.
- Consumerism in healthcare has made hospitals look for profitability not by merely charging patients but rather by cutting their overheads, inventory and wastage.
- In order to sustain in the market, hospitals must employ healthcare digital consumerism to attract patients online through digital and social media marketing by offering them quality treatment plans at competitive pricing. To accomplish this, hospitals must engage the services of a proficient healthcare consulting firm to promote themselves.
The role of a healthcare consulting firm in healthcare digital consumerism
- Patients today feel more empowered as healthcare consumers. They have a multitude of choices when it comes to choosing the hospital or treatment method. According to Mckinsey, the number of patients who were willing to receive treatment at retail clinics rose from 9% in 2013 to 24% in 2017. This kind of stiff competition necessitates the need for astute healthcare digital consumerism and this can be offered only by an experienced and expert healthcare consulting firm.
- Clever strategizing, brand positioning and digital marketing are the tools employed by the healthcare consulting firm to promote the image of the hospital in the consumer's eyes.
Findings by Kaufmann-Hell indicate that
- 64% of the hospital consider digital tools to be the top priority in promoting healthcare consumerism.
- Only 32% of the hospitals use customer segmentation while the rest still use traditional customer surveys.
- Only 15% of the hospital have research specialists on their team to study consumer behaviour.
All the above findings confirm the need for a competent healthcare consulting firm in promoting healthcare consumerism.
With healthcare consumerism shifting the focus of hospitals to be more patient-centric, the hospital operations management of healthcare units has no choice but to enlist the services of able healthcare consulting firm to sustain and lead the healthcare market.
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