Comments on: The Last Mile of Healthcare Consumerism http://company.changehealthcare.com/the-last-mile-of-healthcare-consumerism/ Behind the Scenes at change:healthcare Sun, 21 Feb 2010 21:02:20 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Melissa Speir http://company.changehealthcare.com/the-last-mile-of-healthcare-consumerism/comment-page-1/#comment-536 Melissa Speir Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:29:52 +0000 http://company.changehealthcare.com/?p=440#comment-536 I think this speaks to your points of relevance and trustworthiness, but as consumerism grows, won't healthcare orgs need to "differentiate or die" like other retailers? If I see one more hospital ad on "care, close to home" I'm gonna start throwing shoes. Not only communicate but also *demonstrate* differences more clearly. Greg's example of Humana's Innovation Center is strong. I think this speaks to your points of relevance and trustworthiness, but as consumerism grows, won’t healthcare orgs need to “differentiate or die” like other retailers? If I see one more hospital ad on “care, close to home” I’m gonna start throwing shoes. Not only communicate but also *demonstrate* differences more clearly. Greg’s example of Humana’s Innovation Center is strong.

]]> By: Christopher http://company.changehealthcare.com/the-last-mile-of-healthcare-consumerism/comment-page-1/#comment-534 Christopher Tue, 16 Dec 2008 18:03:47 +0000 http://company.changehealthcare.com/?p=440#comment-534 Greg - Man, that's a preamble! I know that HIC is doing a ton a research and I esp agree with the notion of a Family Health Manager (heh, saw that in the Microsoft presentation in DC so it must be true... wink wink) and that a 'family' can and prob will have more than one Insurer (eg Humana for my immediate dependents AND Medicare for my ailing parent). So that concept makes sense - which then leads me to ask for clarification of your preamble. Yes, I know that the reason I chose a high deduct plan was because it signif lowered my premium HOWEVER my expectations of the Insurer is that I have access to the tools (or my claims data is easily portable) to self-manage and make smarter, less expensive for the same clinical experience. I do not think that paying less means lower expectations, rather that paying less means more responsibility on my part and therefore I want tools and information to help me deal with that new found responsibility. Hows that for a twist? Less actually means More... more respons on my part, more data liquidity, and more tools for me. I also had a chance to poke around the HIC site (killa!) and would love to visit further around transparency. You absolutely right in that people don't like to work to take care of themselves or their healthcare finances. They call it 'work' for a reason b/c it is perceived as hard or requiring effort. Yet, for personal finance we moved from paper statements from the banks, to computer software like Quicken, to effortless and almost (i did said almost) entertaining and informative sites like Mint.com. We've got to enable that same ease of insight and decision-making for consumers of healthcare. YES, yes, yes I know about privacy (which is paramount) but that is an assumed milestone of achievement... Users/Consumers must control their own data and then have access to tools and resources that make all of the confusing words and codes and forms MUCH much easier to understand, be meaningful, and relevant... awww jeez, now i've started to ramble and rant. I really appreciated your comment and keep'em coming! Greg – Man, that’s a preamble! I know that HIC is doing a ton a research and I esp agree with the notion of a Family Health Manager (heh, saw that in the Microsoft presentation in DC so it must be true… wink wink) and that a ‘family’ can and prob will have more than one Insurer (eg Humana for my immediate dependents AND Medicare for my ailing parent). So that concept makes sense – which then leads me to ask for clarification of your preamble. Yes, I know that the reason I chose a high deduct plan was because it signif lowered my premium HOWEVER my expectations of the Insurer is that I have access to the tools (or my claims data is easily portable) to self-manage and make smarter, less expensive for the same clinical experience. I do not think that paying less means lower expectations, rather that paying less means more responsibility on my part and therefore I want tools and information to help me deal with that new found responsibility.

Hows that for a twist? Less actually means More… more respons on my part, more data liquidity, and more tools for me.

I also had a chance to poke around the HIC site (killa!) and would love to visit further around transparency. You absolutely right in that people don’t like to work to take care of themselves or their healthcare finances. They call it ‘work’ for a reason b/c it is perceived as hard or requiring effort. Yet, for personal finance we moved from paper statements from the banks, to computer software like Quicken, to effortless and almost (i did said almost) entertaining and informative sites like Mint.com. We’ve got to enable that same ease of insight and decision-making for consumers of healthcare.

YES, yes, yes I know about privacy (which is paramount) but that is an assumed milestone of achievement… Users/Consumers must control their own data and then have access to tools and resources that make all of the confusing words and codes and forms MUCH much easier to understand, be meaningful, and relevant… awww jeez, now i’ve started to ramble and rant.

I really appreciated your comment and keep’em coming!

]]> By: Andre Blackman http://company.changehealthcare.com/the-last-mile-of-healthcare-consumerism/comment-page-1/#comment-533 Andre Blackman Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:25:47 +0000 http://company.changehealthcare.com/?p=440#comment-533 I would also add that it needs to be Accesible or Information Accessible. There is so much information out there on healthcare options - like you mentioned in the Simple aspect, it's important to make it easy to understand. But more along the lines of accessible, if the people who actually really NEED to get involved in these options don't know about it, then it fails right there. All of these great options don't mean a thing if Joe Average doesn't know about it. I would also add that it needs to be Accesible or Information Accessible. There is so much information out there on healthcare options – like you mentioned in the Simple aspect, it’s important to make it easy to understand. But more along the lines of accessible, if the people who actually really NEED to get involved in these options don’t know about it, then it fails right there.

All of these great options don’t mean a thing if Joe Average doesn’t know about it.

]]> By: Greg Matthews http://company.changehealthcare.com/the-last-mile-of-healthcare-consumerism/comment-page-1/#comment-528 Greg Matthews Sun, 14 Dec 2008 16:44:41 +0000 http://company.changehealthcare.com/?p=440#comment-528 Chris: Great post . . . think that you've identified a good model for thinking about the problem here. Here's what I'd add: As an employee of a payor (Humana) I can say that we've been collectively surprised at people's reaction to "consumer driven plans" like High Deductible Health Plans paired with HSAs. We honestly believed that we were providing exactly what John Q Public needed for insurance . . . a low-premium product that would help them build up a rainy day fund - that they control - to actually *manage* their health expenditures. And when we saw more and more people buying HDHPs, we figured that consumers agreed. But the fact of the matter is that they're buying what they perceive to be "the wal-mart of insurance" - it's cheap, but you get what you pay for. So their expectations of us have never been lower - at the same time as their needs have increased as never before. So smart companies like Google, Microsoft and some of the health communities like Patients Like Me are stepping in to fill the void. Anyway, that's an awful lot of preamble leading to this: - We need to reccognize that there is an "anchor" - a family health manager - in nearly every family. It's almost always the mom. We need to recognize that mom needs the tools not just to manage her health, but everyone's. That can be challenging given that every family member can have not only different providers but different insurers. - We need to stop telling people what to do, and start making the things they *already* like doing more healthy. That's why my team in Humana's Innovation Center is doing what we do with bikes, games, social networks, etc. If we can address these two problems, we'll start making a dent in "the last mile." Would love to continue this dialog here and elsewhere . . . let's get in touch! Chris:
Great post . . . think that you’ve identified a good model for thinking about the problem here. Here’s what I’d add:
As an employee of a payor (Humana) I can say that we’ve been collectively surprised at people’s reaction to “consumer driven plans” like High Deductible Health Plans paired with HSAs.
We honestly believed that we were providing exactly what John Q Public needed for insurance . . . a low-premium product that would help them build up a rainy day fund – that they control – to actually *manage* their health expenditures. And when we saw more and more people buying HDHPs, we figured that consumers agreed.
But the fact of the matter is that they’re buying what they perceive to be “the wal-mart of insurance” – it’s cheap, but you get what you pay for. So their expectations of us have never been lower – at the same time as their needs have increased as never before. So smart companies like Google, Microsoft and some of the health communities like Patients Like Me are stepping in to fill the void.
Anyway, that’s an awful lot of preamble leading to this:
– We need to reccognize that there is an “anchor” – a family health manager – in nearly every family. It’s almost always the mom. We need to recognize that mom needs the tools not just to manage her health, but everyone’s. That can be challenging given that every family member can have not only different providers but different insurers.
– We need to stop telling people what to do, and start making the things they *already* like doing more healthy. That’s why my team in Humana’s Innovation Center is doing what we do with bikes, games, social networks, etc.
If we can address these two problems, we’ll start making a dent in “the last mile.” Would love to continue this dialog here and elsewhere . . . let’s get in touch!

]]> By: Medicine 2.0 Carnival #35: Twitterity « ScienceRoll http://company.changehealthcare.com/the-last-mile-of-healthcare-consumerism/comment-page-1/#comment-524 Medicine 2.0 Carnival #35: Twitterity « ScienceRoll Sun, 14 Dec 2008 12:47:15 +0000 http://company.changehealthcare.com/?p=440#comment-524 [...] The “Last Mile“ (The Last Mile of healthcare Consumerism) [...] [...] The “Last Mile“ (The Last Mile of healthcare Consumerism) [...]

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