I had the opportunity to speak at Life University’s homecoming over the weekend. Many thanks go out to the folks at Life, and particularly Dr. Stephen Bolles for making it a really enjoyable experience.
My topic was centered on “delivering value” in health care, not from a clinical standpoint or a health plan standpoint, but from a consumer perspective. We haven’t heard much about the consumer’s perspective of what they are searching for in the health care debate (except through the emotional interaction of the Town Hall meetings over the past few months). I'ts about time we started to listen.
I felt it was important for the audience at Life University (clinicians) understood the brutal realities of the health care market they are part of. We all know the numbers, we spend too much, our results aren’t what they need to be, and there is a very real possibility that the whole financial model could crash if we don’t do something about it. Consumers don’t trust the health plans, they don’t trust their employers, and they certainly don’t trust those in Washington making the decisions to “reform” the system we have today (I’ve written enough on my views on what’s going on with the whole reform fiasco). Due to the lack of trust, consumers get a lot of their information today via the internet. Eighty-eight percent of them validate the information they receive on the internet with their health care providers. Eighty-eight percent of those people then validate the validation they received from their health care provider with family and friends. Health care information is a social phenomenon.
The definition of “value” in health care from a consumer perspective (from the outside) has a very unique context around it. Value from a consumer’s perspective is something they can trust, is personally relevant to them, delivers the results they expect, and can help them navigate through the mess we have today when they need to navigate through the mess. Value is very personal when looking at it from the consumer’s eyes.
The definition of value for those inside health care is totally different. Value is based on outcomes and cost. Value is about following the right protocol or the right formula in delivering care. The value of health care is transactional- not personal. And, as we all know, our health care system has become a system based on a series of transactions- not relationships.
My argument has been that until we start to recognize and appreciate the definition of value from a consumer perspective, we’re never going to get them involved. They will continue to be merely participants aimlessly following the confusing rules and processes we have laid out for them. Yes, they might be “nudged” along by incentives (another transaction) to get them to do the right thing- but they are not going to engage and do the things we will need them to do to be truly engaged and active participants in their health and in the health care system itself until a relationship is established. We have a long ways to go.
Our health care system has become a fragmented array of individual self-interests focused very narrowly on individual points of view. To really reform our system will require a change in perspective for many of the individual self-interests to work in a more focused and integrated manner than they ever have before. And, while not discarding the health care system’s definition of value, they will need to focus much more on the definition of value from the perspective of those receiving care. Patients are not a transaction- they are a person.
Did anyone really hear my message at Life? I don’t know, but it felt good getting it out there for others to think about.
My topic was centered on “delivering value” in health care, not from a clinical standpoint or a health plan standpoint, but from a consumer perspective. We haven’t heard much about the consumer’s perspective of what they are searching for in the health care debate (except through the emotional interaction of the Town Hall meetings over the past few months). I'ts about time we started to listen.
I felt it was important for the audience at Life University (clinicians) understood the brutal realities of the health care market they are part of. We all know the numbers, we spend too much, our results aren’t what they need to be, and there is a very real possibility that the whole financial model could crash if we don’t do something about it. Consumers don’t trust the health plans, they don’t trust their employers, and they certainly don’t trust those in Washington making the decisions to “reform” the system we have today (I’ve written enough on my views on what’s going on with the whole reform fiasco). Due to the lack of trust, consumers get a lot of their information today via the internet. Eighty-eight percent of them validate the information they receive on the internet with their health care providers. Eighty-eight percent of those people then validate the validation they received from their health care provider with family and friends. Health care information is a social phenomenon.
The definition of “value” in health care from a consumer perspective (from the outside) has a very unique context around it. Value from a consumer’s perspective is something they can trust, is personally relevant to them, delivers the results they expect, and can help them navigate through the mess we have today when they need to navigate through the mess. Value is very personal when looking at it from the consumer’s eyes.
The definition of value for those inside health care is totally different. Value is based on outcomes and cost. Value is about following the right protocol or the right formula in delivering care. The value of health care is transactional- not personal. And, as we all know, our health care system has become a system based on a series of transactions- not relationships.
My argument has been that until we start to recognize and appreciate the definition of value from a consumer perspective, we’re never going to get them involved. They will continue to be merely participants aimlessly following the confusing rules and processes we have laid out for them. Yes, they might be “nudged” along by incentives (another transaction) to get them to do the right thing- but they are not going to engage and do the things we will need them to do to be truly engaged and active participants in their health and in the health care system itself until a relationship is established. We have a long ways to go.
Our health care system has become a fragmented array of individual self-interests focused very narrowly on individual points of view. To really reform our system will require a change in perspective for many of the individual self-interests to work in a more focused and integrated manner than they ever have before. And, while not discarding the health care system’s definition of value, they will need to focus much more on the definition of value from the perspective of those receiving care. Patients are not a transaction- they are a person.
Did anyone really hear my message at Life? I don’t know, but it felt good getting it out there for others to think about.
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