Part 1: Healthcare Consumers Discuss ways in which healthcare consumers are diff
ID: 455644 • Letter: P
Question
Part 1: Healthcare Consumers Discuss ways in which healthcare consumers are different from consumers of other goods and services. Part 2: Redefinition of the Patient As healthcare has evolved so has the concept of a patient or consumer of healthcare. Technology and culture are among the many variables that have affected our concept of a healthcare patient. Consider these items among the others noted in your text: What has most influenced the way you view yourself as a consumer of healthcare? What factors led to the redefinition of the patient as a consumer in the late twentieth century?
Explanation / Answer
What has most influenced the way you view yourself as a consumer of healthcare?
Learning though experiences other family member or friends have had is what influences me as a consumer of healthcare. Having knowledge of the different health insurance policies around and the hiccups that some have found with them, helps learn without having to go through the hassle first hand.
What factors led to the redefinition of the patient as a consumer in the late twentieth century?
Third party payers, costs and increase in medical technology are some factors that have led to their definition of the patient as a consumer. In decades before, patients paid the physician or physicians directly. There was no “middle man”, now, there are insurance programs and government programs. “At the beginning of the 20thcentury, health insurance was virtually nonexistent in the United States”. Costs have increase due to the newer technology that is constantly changing and becoming more and more intelligent. Balancing quality of care with cost effectiveness is a constant effort in managed health.
Building a Win-Win Strategy for Change
In or out? Left or right? Up or down? Whether your organization is planning to continue offering health benefits for the foreseeable future—or if you’re planning to exit the game as soon as possible—it’s important to have an articulated health and wellness strategy that addresses each of these four areas : Design with Intent: Make it easy.
Reduce unnecessary expense: Make it personal.
Engage employees and dependents in managing their health: Make it move me
Improve health and workforce performance: Make it meaningful.
Consumers have a lot to say, and employers have a lot to learn, about how to positively affect change in all four of these strategic areas.
Make it easy
What Consumer says
What Employers Can Do
I enrolled in a Plan for the savings I get now, not in the future.
Simplify Your Plan Designs
Being in a Plan has changed my health behaviors— most for the better, a few for the worse.
Get the Right People into the Right Plans
The account feature of a Plan is confusing to me.
Make the Plan’s Advantages and Actions Insultingly Clear
I will probably stay in a Plan
Make it personal
What Consumer says
What Employers Can Do
Help me lower my costs while I’m trying to get and stay healthy.
Personalize Health and Cost Information
If you want me to get healthier, show me the money.
Make Succinct Information Available at the Point of Need
I don’t know enough when it comes to buying health care, but I do watch what I spend on it.
Guide Consumers to Smart Choices in Both Quality and Cost-Effectiveness
I want a personalized health plan that is tailored just for me.
Make it Love me
What Consumer says
What Employers Can Do
Sure, I could make some changes, but my health is pretty good.
Carefully Choose Your Messenger
I know what it takes to be healthier.
Reposition Incentives to Motivate Behavior Change
Time, money, and my unwillingness to change get in the way.
Use Health and Attitudinal Data to More Precisely Target Key Populations
If anyone can move me, it’s my doctor.
Make it Meaningful
What Consumer says
What Employers Can Do
My work stresses me out more than any other part of my life.
Start at the Top
I do my best to deal with stress, but can use more help from my employer.
Connect Better Health to Better Performance
My employer offers health programs, but I’m not sure they’re worth my time.
Identify and Minimize Stress Sources
My employer is not very supportive when it comes to helping me stay healthy.
New terms like Interative health making a buzz..why ??
What’s special about Interactive Health
Interactive Health is all about becoming healthier and happier through your everyday engagement with your health and well-being. It’s about making health more than just the topic of periodic doctor visits or New Year’s resolutions, and making it a part of your everyday life. When heath information becomes personal and based on real validated data and grounded in trustworthy expert knowledge, we are more likely to become engaged with it and make better long lasting informed decision, as well as have a long-lasting impact on our health and well-being.
Factors that will forever change our relationship to health information:
Conclusion on future defination on being healthy:
Health is about making personalized health knowledge, supportive care and motivation available to you, anytime and anywhere, so that you can integrate this knowledge into your daily actions to live a longer, healthier, happier life.
What Consumer says
What Employers Can Do
I enrolled in a Plan for the savings I get now, not in the future.
Simplify Your Plan Designs
Being in a Plan has changed my health behaviors— most for the better, a few for the worse.
Get the Right People into the Right Plans
The account feature of a Plan is confusing to me.
Make the Plan’s Advantages and Actions Insultingly Clear
I will probably stay in a Plan