Feb 9 2012

Follow the yellow brick road: Hospitals in search of the Wizard

February 9, 2012 – 12:13 pm

by Lisa Kersey

Hospitals Finding the Wizard of Oz

When Dorothy was lost in unfamiliar territory, the Wizard helped her find her way home.  Today, hospitals find themselves in a similar place – but not for the reasons you might think. 

Yes, hospitals have room for improvement when it comes to quality and patient safety. They have opportunities to decrease waste and duplication to help decrease the cost of healthcare. And it’s also true that hospitals need to improve the overall patient experience. But those things alone will not differentiate one hospital from another; health reform is requiring all hospitals to improve in these areas and upping the ante on incentives for achieving them.

So, how will hospitals differentiate themselves in the new world order of healthcare? No offense to our brethren in the Sunflower State, but we’re not in Kansas anymore! The rules of the game have changed, and you’d better change your approach, if you want to attract and retain physicians, nurses, clinical staff and, yes, patients.

Will differentiation matter? You can bet your little red shoes it will. While there is unprecedented consolidation in healthcare and while bundled payments will force unfamiliar alignments, people will still have a choice of where they seek services. If there were a Wizard along the yellow brick road of health reform, here’s what I think he’d have to say to hospitals to help them differentiate themselves:

1.  Stop talking about yourself!  While awareness will always play a role in hospital public relations and marketing, the conversation needs to change. At its most fundamental, healthcare is about people and helping them to be as healthy as they can be. So quit talking about your technology and your awards. Besides, no one’s really listening anyway. And it’s not a monologue. People want to have a conversation about their health.

2.  Engage with people! Don’t be so distracted dotting your i’s and crossing your t’s in your new electronic health record that you forget what your mother taught you. Make eye contact. Say please and thank you. Introduce yourself. Listen more, talk less. Anticipate the needs of your patients and their families. Say you’re sorry – even if it’s just for how they feel, and not because you did anything wrong.

3.  Embrace your new surroundings! While there are a lot of unknowns, there are also a lot of new tools that can help you build relationships with your patients and community –use them. Start with what you can control –your own website, your social media properties, and leveraging mobile technology.

4.  Don’t budget tactics, budget strategy! If your budget includes line items for print, broadcast, radio, advertising and PR, then you are destined to be led by tactics rather than by a strategy. The name of the game is integration. So, depending what your hospital may need, consider budgeting for things like reputation/brand building, service growth and strategic communications (which would include things like change communication, crisis communication, etc.).  This will help to link your tactics to measurable objectives so that you can evaluate whether or not your approach was successful.   

And the proverbial pot of gold at the end of the rainbow…

5.  Focus on the “health” in healthcare! Talking about sick care is just not that pleasant. And unless you’re one of the 25 percent of people actually looking for a doctor or hospital service at any given time, you don’t care anyway. So why not engage with 100 percent of people in your community by talking about something that’s relevant to them – their health. What can you do to educate them in new ways? How can you help keep people out of your hospital? How can you use new media to connect people with information and other people who share their interests or concerns? What can you offer that will cause people to associate your hospital with holistic care, with wellness?

There are several health systems that have found the Wizard. They have connected with people and embraced the health in healthcare: the Mayo Clinic, Henry Ford, Intermountain Healthcare and Inova.  These systems understand the value in making the 180 degree shift, and they have made a purposeful investment in wellness.  Now before you go clicking your heels together and tell me that you’re going back to Kansas because you think wellness is reserved only for the few, listen. No matter the size, location or ownership of your hospital, you have the opportunity to focus on the health in healthcare. But don’t revert to tactics like advertising about how you care about wellness; instead, develop and implement a strategy that demonstrates it to your patients and to your community.

Are you off to see the Wizard? 

 
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Jan 26 2012

Hospital blogs strike fear in the heart of marketers

January 26, 2012 – 7:00 am

By Jenn Riggle

untitledOne of the best ways to create thought leadership and develop a national reputation is to develop an external blog. Yet only 149 of the nation’s more than 5,700 registered hospitals have a corporate blog.

This is a big issue because some community hospitals are now interested in building national reputation.

Why? Because the healthcare landscape has changed. Today, hospitals are positioning themselves for mergers and acquisitions, joining accountable care organizations (ACOs) and negotiating rates with health insurers. They suddenly care about what people say about them outside their community.

A corporate blog gives hospitals a voice beyond promoting community events and marketing service lines. It also serves as a platform for hospital executives to talk about healthcare issues, discuss what they’re “doing right” and set them apart from other community hospitals.

Hospital blogs will also help drive more traffic to the hospital’s website and improve their website’s search engine optimization (SEO). The same way that hospitals serve as the economic engines of their communities, blogs can serve as the engine for hospital websites. According to the Periodic Table of SEO Ranking Factors, they do this by providing fresh content that draws people to the site and ultimately, engages them.

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With all these positive results, why are hospital marketers afraid?

Blogs are time intensive: Probably the biggest reason hospitals shy from launching external blogs is lack of time. Hospital marketing departments are already short on staff, and maintaining and developing blog content is yet one more job on their to-do list.

They require taking risks: Hospitals are historically risk-averse. Writing a blog and putting news into perspective requires hospital executives to be comfortable taking a stand and possibly saying something that can be seen as controversial.

They require executive buy-in: There is a misconception that a corporate blog needs to written by the hospital’s CEO, like the one written by Paul Levy, the former CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Yet hospital blogs don’t all have to look alike. There are successful hospital blogs that step outside of the box and use photos, videos and bold colors to engage the audience, such as Seattle Children’s Hospital’s Seattle Mama Doc or Boston Children’s Hospital’s Thriving blog.

However, even if hospitals are afraid to make the long-term commitment required to develop their own blog, they can still have a blog strategy. For example, they may develop and place content on major health blogs that already have established audiences, such as Hospital Impact, The Healthcare Blog and KevinMD. This way they’re establishing themselves as thought leaders, without the intense work of maintaining their own blog.

With so few hospitals blogging, there’s a real opportunity for your hospital to be ahead of the curve and establish itself as a thought leader.

 
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Jan 12 2012

Recalculating……The New Era in Healthcare Demands New Approaches for Hospital Marketing

January 12, 2012 – 2:46 pm

 

By Lisa Kersey

Recalculating

Out with the old and in with the new. This is the mantra of many with regard to personal and professional goals at the beginning of a new year. And it needs to be true for healthcare marketers. If consumerism was not enough to shift your approach, the Affordable Care Act provides yet one more reason to seriously assess the value of current efforts and refine them to better achieve your hospital’s strategic goals.

I recently read a book designed to support hospital marketers in throwing away old habits and embracing a brave new world. In his book Joe Public Doesn’t Care About Your Hospital, author Chris Bevolo does a nice job of providing a brief overview of the discipline of hospital marketing, which didn’t really begin until the 1980’s, and the market factors contributing to the need for the changes he recommends. Based on 2008 research by the Center for Studying Health System Change, Chris estimates that at any given time approximately 25% of people are in the market for a physician or hospital service. That’s only a quarter of your market. That means that the other 75% of people really don’t care about what you have to tell them about your hospital – not what services you offer, what satisfaction scores you received, what physicians you have added, what new buildings you have opened, not what new technology you have acquired – none of it!

Having been on the hospital side for most of my career, and now as a public relations executive providing strategic counsel to hospitals and health systems, I read this book and found myself nodding and laughing, sighing and hoping that 2012 will be the year when hospital marketing turns the corner. How do we stop the “look at me, look at me” advertising and instead engage with our patients in a meaningful way about their health?

Yes, there will always be a need to build awareness of products, services and physicians. But unless you have a strategic brand platform and an integrated plan for all public relations, marketing and advertising, you will most likely default to the same old tactics and achieve the same limited results. Additionally, unless you invest resources and embrace the powerful role that digital communications can play in helping you target and engage people in their health, you will continue to develop print ads to a dying readership. And unless you educate your executive team, clinical leadership and key physicians that branding is about how people experience your hospital, and not what you tell them about your hospital, you will continue fighting battles with physicians and CEO’s about billboards.

There are limited dollars to spend, and the Affordable Care Act has created a limited window of opportunity to make the shift from pushing out mass information to building relationships through targeted engagement. If you were to attach a Marketing GPS to your plans for 2012, the best thing you could hear would be “recalculating!” 

 
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Dec 22 2011

Santa Needs a Wellness Makeover – and So Do I

December 22, 2011 – 7:00 am

By Jenn Riggle

santa scaleLike Santa, Americans could use a wellness makeover.

Christmas has turned into a season of excess – whether it’s eating too many Christmas cookies, replacing our workout schedules with holiday shopping and back-to-back holiday parties, or watching an endless stream of silly and sentimental Christmas movies. I guess it’s only fitting than an overworked and overweight elf is the holiday’s ambassador.

However, I got an idea while watching “Too Cool for Christmas.” In this movie, a teenage girl gives Santa a fitness makeover, only to discover that beneath the red fur suit was the eternally a tan and fit George Hamilton. If only we could be so lucky.

However, there are small steps we can all take to give ourselves a wellness makeover this holiday season:

Christmas is for children of all ages. However, you can’t eat like a kid forever: There are all kinds of fast foods. And while you may not go through the drive-thru on a regular basis, you should take a closer look at what you’re eating. Pizza, pasta and frozen dinners all taste great, but they’re packed with salt and extra calories. Instead, think about making meals over the weekend that you can reheat during the week. Or prepare chicken and veggies in advance so you can make a quick salad when you get home in the evenings.

santa5

If you want to squeeze into your jeans, you need to fit exercise into your schedule: The end of the year is a crazy time of preparing for year-end reviews, Christmas shopping (and wrapping) and holiday parties. In the endless whirlwind of activities, it’s easy to be too tired for your morning workout or too busy to stop by the gym after work. So pull yourself away from your desk at lunch and take a 15 to 20 minute walk. You might even become reacquainted with the sun.

It’s okay to dream about sugar plums, as long as you get enough sleep: All right, I’m one to talk. As a busy working mom, I’ve found that the time between 3-6 a.m. is a best time to write – but it’s probably creating some horrible sleeping habits. Research shows that one-third of Americans are sleep-deprived and sleep less than 7 hours a night. I don’t have any solutions about how to get more sleep. However, I find if I put in a Disney animated film in the DVD player, I’m asleep within minutes.

While everyone loves a morning latte, you can have too much of a good thing: This is the time of year when we’re all burning the candle at both ends. Surely we deserve a reward for all of our hard work. But you can make some small changes, such as switching from 2 percent to non-fat milk and skipping on the whipped cream, that can turn a guilty pleasure into a not-so guilty one. Another thing to consider is switching from going on a coffee run once a week, rather than daily.

A tan looks great, but be sure to wear sunscreen: George Hamilton is the poster boy for the golden tan, but it’s important to wear sunscreen – even in the winter. You can get a nasty sunburn skiing or playing out in the snow, so be sure to lather up.

Drink enough water: Okay, maybe you don’t have to drink 8 glasses of water a day, but we all need to drink more water. Drinking water even helps to burn fat and build muscle, and can help prevent cramps and injuries while exercising. Also, you might want to try some flavor packets to add to water. It make drinking water a lot more palatable.

So have a Merry Christmas. I know Santa and I have our work cut out for us in the New Year.

 
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Dec 15 2011

5 (Achievable) Health Resolutions for 2012

December 15, 2011 – 9:04 am

by April Sciacchitano (@aprilcs)

Every year, people make health and wellness resolutions for the coming year. Unfortunately, they often have a tough time sticking to them. Sixty percent of gym memberships are out of use by mid-February, and it appears we aren’t making progress outside the gym either – 66 percent of Americans are overweight or obese.           

So what health resolutions should people consider making for the coming year?

Successful resolutions have certain characteristics, and the specifics can make or break you before the spring thaw. At the 2011 SupplySide West conference, the Today Show’s registered dietitian Joy Bauer revealed her 20 most frequently asked questions. Her answers provide a perfect foundation for setting a specific, measureable health goal for 2012:

  • Get your sugar intake under control. Joy recommends only two items per day use artificial sweetener because they increase sugar cravings. 
  • Go cold turkey, and cut out three “never” foods: Hot dogs, soda and starchy breakfasts
  • Break a weight loss plateau. Add 15 minutes to your cardio workout and focus on strength training.  (Women tend to put too much focus on cardio, and only 21 percent of women strength train two or more times per week.)
  • If ‘don’t’ lists aren’t inspiring, try emerging food trends that are good for you. Joy explained quinoa, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, roasted edamame, steel cut oats, kefir, chard and kale are healthful foods that are under the radar.  
  • Add three fast, healthy meals to your repertoire to rely on when schedules take surprising turns. Most ingredients should be something you typically have on-hand.

What health resolutions should marketers make in 2012? Help consumers in their resolve to improve their health. Consumers think about health during resolution season because they know it’s a work in progress. Brands that help them live a healthy lifestyle will become a trusted partner and be an invaluable part of their regimen.

 
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Dec 8 2011

What the BCS and Healthcare Rankings Have in Common: The importance of building reputation for hospitals and health systems

December 8, 2011 – 11:09 am

By Lisa Kersey

It’s that time of year again, when college football enthusiasts eagerly await the matchups for the annual bowl games. And the “winners” for 2011 are in….and out, as the case may be.

What the BCS and Healthcare Rankings Have in Common

For years, sports commentators, fans, coaches and players have expressed mixed emotions when the final matchups are announced. There are the smug, like this year’s rematch between LSU and Alabama. Then there are the surprised, like Frank Beamer and his Hokies getting the at-large bid to play Michigan in the Sugar Bowl. And then there are the aghast, like Boise State and Baylor, who have been relegated to lesser bowl fame, based on this year’s rankings. It begs the question – do the bowl matchups award some based on solid talent and performance, but let others ride in on their reputation and historical records in order to maximize the financial impact for a particular sponsor and host city?

 A similar phenomenon occurs in the healthcare world as well. Granted, healthcare awards do not attract quite the same level of interest from the common man, nor do the rankings come replete with hard cash, but some of the rankings do favor popularity and name recognition over results.

For instance, some would argue that Johns Hopkins is the equivalent of LSU or Alabama –yes, they have reputation, but they also show consistent results. Then, there is UCLA Medical Center, sort of like the Hokies, in that they were humbly honored by being named to US News & World Report’s list of top hospitals in 2011. Then, there was Case Western Reserve University and MetroHealth Medical Center, which felt more like a Boise State, and believes that the US News rankings are a better measure of reputation than they are of quality care.

But the truth is, quality of care and reputation should not be an “either/or” proposition – for the successful hospital and health system, it is a “both/and” pursuit to excellence.

It is the core business of hospitals and health systems to provide high quality care. There is no hospital in the country that does not prioritize improving the quality of care in its annual goals, and for many it is even part of the enduring mission statement. Additionally, while quality may be defined in different ways by different people, the last decade has seen a rise in standardized measures of quality from a number of government and private sector leaders. Whether it is mortality rates, “never events” or HCAHPS scores, the data include comparative measurement around both clinical outcomes and patient perceptions of care.

So, while healthcare organizations must continue to focus on and improve the quality of healthcare, the best health systems are also investing in building their reputation. As the healthcare industry continues to consolidate and as health reform encourages more collaboration among providers and rewards best practices, all players in the industry could benefit from a little Reputation 101. Whether you wish to position yourself as an attractive partner in the brave new world of healthcare or you are preparing yourself to be acquired, reputation building is essential.

Ranking for ranking’s sake is not enough. And “studying to the test” to achieve the latest metrics won’t cut it either. But reputation building will serve as the foundation to your organization being one of the self-assured in the rankings – your reputation will precede you, and the quality of your product will back you up.

 
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Dec 1 2011

Patients Speak Out on Healthcare: Are You Listening?

December 1, 2011 – 9:00 am

By Debbie MyersSmall Group Talk

We know the old adage: The customer is always right. But is the patient right as well?

In healthcare, we don’t always think so. The customer service issues that are elevated to the C-suite often reflect the most extreme situations, ranging from “squeaky wheel” complaints to emotionally-charged lawsuits. While these are very important to address, they represent the outliers of the patient experience.

It’s a problem that we wait for the patients to come to us with their concerns. What would happen if we instead engaged the average patient?

I had the opportunity to do exactly that earlier this month through a focus group. A cross section of twelve consumers – men and women, ages 35 to 65 – weighed in on their personal health goals, their troubles with hospitals and their hopes for the future of healthcare. These consumers offered a snapshot of what I hear from many patients about their patient experience:

Consumers are frustrated – As much as providers would like to separate themselves from insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies, consumers see them as one family that should be working together. During the focus group, I heard across-the-board frustration about the cost of healthcare and the lack of access to advanced treatments (even though the focus group was conducted in a major metropolitan market). Many expressed anger that insurance companies are calling the shots on what is covered, that pharma companies “gouge us” and that hospitals and physicians seem to care more about payment than providing care. All of healthcare is getting blamed for the flaws of the system and little credit for the good work that is being done to improve quality and reduce costs. One forward-thinking consumer suggested that insurance companies should have their offices on the same medical campus with doctors, hospitals and pharmacies, just like how banks can be found in any shopping center. Even the appearance of working together could go a long way in communicating “we’re all in this together” for the patient.

Consumers want time with their doctor – I heard stories of people waiting for hours to see a physician, only to have less than five minutes of his time. Some consumers talked about being “passed on” to a nurse practitioner or a physician assistant, never seeing their physician during a scheduled appointment. Consumers have little tolerance hearing that their physician is busy. One woman told me, “I am busy too. I have arranged my schedule around my doctor appointment, I have prepared succinct questions and I have all of my medications listed. I am prepared and on time. Why can’t my doctor show the same respect?”

Despite the frustration of waiting, consumers respect physicians, and they want their attention and expertise. Unfortunately, they see other members of the care team in supporting roles but lacking the knowledge and experience of a physician. An opportunity for healthcare is to elevate the “brand” of nurse practitioners, physician assistants, social workers, nutritionists, etc. as experts who can provide real solutions for patients. Helping consumers see the benefit of have a care team could lessen the demands on the already overextended physician.

Consumers want wellness and prevention programs – As one consumer opined “I get it, if we all do a better job staying well, health costs would go down.” With obesity and its associated health risks on the rise, it might appear that consumers just don’t care about their health. However, this is not the case. Consumers have a strong desire to prevent illness and disease, but may not know how to do it on their own. Consumers want coaches to help them find the right resources and tools to stay healthy. They also want more access to wellness programs beyond health clubs – like nutritional counseling, guidance in shopping for the right foods and preventive health screenings. And they want some cost incentives for staying healthy. Many large employers are finding that wellness incentives are popular with their employees – perhaps discounts can be extended beyond the workplace to physician offices, such as earning points for staying healthy. As one consumer told me, “Make it fun and more people will pay attention.”

When Marshal Fields department store in Chicago created the concept that the customer is always right, the purpose was to make customers feel good about their shopping experience. Perhaps if we listen more to the healthcare consumer, they, too, will view their patient experience more favorably.

 
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Nov 17 2011

Is your hospital ready for a HIPAA audit?

November 17, 2011 – 11:38 am

By Jenn Riggle

Dr. Seuss' The GrinchJust in time for the holidays, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), which enforces HIPAA privacy and security rules on behalf of the Department of Health & Human Services, announced it is ramping up its enforcement activities.

While nothing to celebrate, these audits are definitely worth preparing for.

In the past, OCR has had an informal enforcement policy, but that just changed. A pilot program is performing 150 audits of covered entities, which include healthcare providers, health plans and healthcare clearinghouses, to determine HIPAA compliance. The audits will be conducted from November 2011 to December 2012.

The question is: Are healthcare organizations ready for this type of audit?

Recent estimates show that only one-third of hospitals currently have a policy for how their employees’ use of social media, and less than 50 percent of healthcare organizations surveyed by PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Health Research Institute include the approved use of social media and mobile devices in company privacy training.

With HIPAA changes on the horizon, now’s a good time to review some basic rules of them when it comes to HIPAA:

Create a social media policy: It’s not enough to block employees from using the Internet and social media at work, especially since they can access these from their smartphones. Instead, hospitals need to develop a social media policy that explains what employees can and can’t say on social media.

Refresh the policy and your people throughout the year: Social media is constantly changing, so it’s important to revise your policy at least twice a year to make sure that it accurately captures new technologies (e.g. Google+) or new Facebook privacy controls. Your hospital’s staff changes, too, so it’s important to conduct trainings on a semi-annual basis.

Help patients opt-in: Technology makes health systems uneasy because of HIPAA violations, but it’s a mistake not to harness it to bring patients in. Use automated appointment reminders. This is a simple way to provide benefit to your patients. These messages can be sent via text message, email or phone call, and don’t violate privacy.

Keep your personal/professional life separate: This is a good rule of thumb. If you “friend” patients over Facebook, you might be put in potentially awkward situations, such as sharing too much information about your personal life, having people see photos taken during a vacation or being asked to diagnose a health issue via Facebook. Instead, create a practice fan page. This allows physicians an opportunity to provide helpful information but helps keep their personal life separate. 

Use caution when posting photos taken in the hospital: To protect patient privacy, it’s important not to post patient photos or photos with patients in the background. Or sometimes photos that were taken in jest could be an example of unprofessional behavior.

Don’t post personally identifiable information about patients: It’s not enough to not name a patient; you also can’t post personally identifiable information about a patient. For example, a Rhode Island ED physician lost her job because people in the community could identify a trauma patient from personally identifiable information posted on Facebook.

What about texting?

Texting seems to fall into a gray area and is increasing with physicians. More than 70 percent of physicians use text messaging to communicate with other healthcare providers because it allows them to send and receive real-time information without calling or relying on email. It’s also not unusual for physicians to request the patient’s name and room number so they can look up the chart before returning the call. In the end, whether texting is HIPAA-compliant really depends on what information is shared and whether the information is encrypted or not.

With the end of the year coming to a close, now’s a good time to plan ahead and take a closer look at your HIPAA policy and procedures.

 
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Nov 3 2011

The Healthcare Economy’s 9-9-9: Balancing Main Street and Wall Street

November 3, 2011 – 11:08 am

Free market competition, regulatory control, and the average American

by Lisa Kersey

While many may think of 911 when they think of health care, GOP nominee hopeful Herman Cain could be onto something. There is a 9-9-9 currently characterizing our healthcare economy, and it is simply untenable. Something has to give.

Wall Street

Nine. The average annual rate increase for family coverage through an employer in 2011.

Nine. The current unemployment rate in the United States as of Q4 2011.

Nine (percent). The average profit margin of the top five large insurance carriers in the U.S.

If you Google “health insurance premiums,” you’ll find the following headlines:

  • Health insurance premiums climb faster in 2011 – Reuters
  • Health Insurance Costs Rising Sharply This Year, Study Shows – New York Times
  • Employers’ Health-Care Premiums Jump 9% – Wall Street Journal

These headlines were largely tied to one leading study conducted annually by the Kaiser Family Foundation. According to the 2011 study released in September, premiums tripled from the previous year for employer-sponsored family coverage, an increase completely out of step with wage increases. The survey also found the average employee contributes 28 percent annually toward employer-sponsored family plans. This represents a staggering 131 percent increase over the previous decade.

Many would argue insurers have raised rates in anticipation of new health reform rules and expanded coverage. Others argue that underwriters set premiums based on anticipated utilization, but the demand for health services is lagging predictions due to a depressed economy, resulting in profit margins temporarily skewed in favor of insurance companies.

As is often the case, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. According to Drew Altman, President & CEO of the Kaiser Family Foundation, “regardless of how you feel about the Affordable Care Act, its effect on premiums this year is modest. Most of the law’s provisions don’t go into effect until 2014. The two biggest changes this year allow young adults up to age 26 to stay on their parents’ insurance policies and require some insurance plans to cover preventive services at no cost to patients. These are popular provisions that provide real benefits, and combined they account for about one to two percentage points of this year’s premium increase.”

Redefining the 9-9-9

To echo the words of Mr. Altman, regardless of how you feel about the Affordable Care Act, it will up the ante for insurance companies, resulting in more balance between those on Main Street and those on Wall Street. Under the new medical-loss ratio rule, there will be greater scrutiny, greater transparency and greater consumer protection.

Main Street

Nine. The “maximum” premium increase an insurance company can impose, effective September 2011.

Nine. The number of customers (in millions) estimated to receive insurance rebates in 2012.

Nine. The month of the year in which these provisions will be implemented over the next two years.

As of September 2011, health insurance companies can no longer raise rates without raising eyebrows and revealing their rationale. While many states have historically reviewed proposed rate increases to determine reasonableness, many still lack the legal authority or resources to do so. And while some states have the authority to deny or reduce proposed rate increases, most do not. The Affordable Care Act ensures that rate increases in all states will be thoroughly analyzed and disclosed to the public. This information will allow employers and individuals to make more informed choices with regard to which health plan they choose.

Additionally, the new medical-loss ratio rule sets a premium floor, requiring that insurers spend 80 to 85 percent of premium dollars on actual medical care as opposed to excessive administrative costs and profit margins. Companies that miss the mark must rebate the difference back to their health plan members.

While there’s plenty yet to be worked out along the journey to fixing our complex and broken health care system, these changes are one step in the right direction to balance free market competition with regulatory control in a way that supports the average American. So, before we throw out the proverbial baby with the bathwater, let’s accept some of the good that has emerged from our heated debates over health reform. At the end of the day, it’s not about repealing or rejecting anything in whole. It’s not about siding with the left or the right. It’s about being an American, making shared sacrifices and courageous choices and taking one step at a time in the right direction.

 
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Oct 27 2011

Are physicians ready for consumer-driven healthcare?

October 27, 2011 – 9:00 am
 

By Debbie Myers

Are physicians ready for consumer-driven healthcare

I have great respect for physicians. I think most people do. In fact, doctors were ranked in second place (right behind firefighters and before nurses and scientists) in a Harris poll that measured consumer perceptions of the top 23 professions So, why are some doctors having a Rodney Dangerfield moment and feeling like they “get no respect?”

The New England Journal of Medicine recently published an article written by two physicians at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston that suggests that doctors are feeling marginalized in today’s healthcare environment. The authors contend that calling physicians “providers” is demeaning and that doctors’ roles seem to be “interchangeable” with other medical professionals, such as nurses, physical therapists and social workers. The authors also suggest that the term provider “signals that care is fundamentally a prepackaged commodity on a shelf that is ‘provided’ to the ‘consumer,’ rather than something personalized and dynamic, crafted by skilled professionals and tailored to the individual patient.”

Well, I’m sorry to tell you doctor, the personalized care model of one-doctor towns gave way to large, suburban multi-specialty practices. In addition, today’s electronic reporting has forced physicians to spend more time facing a computer and less time facing the patient. Economics – and, some would argue, better care coordination – has led physician practices to integrate physician assistants, nurse practitioners and other providers into the care management team. The role of physician and other providers has been blurred by doctors themselves.

But the authors’ concerns do not end with the image of physicians. Pamela Hartzband, MD and Jerome Groopman MD argue that patients should not be called “consumers” or “customers” because these terms are “reducing medicine to economics” and “makes a mockery of the bond between the healer and the sick.”

This is a very parochial view that assumes people only need the services of a physician or other healthcare provider when they’re sick. It also assumes that patients should be “patient” and accept that the experience they have with their physician is always on the doctor’s terms, not theirs.

I agree with the authors that the economics of healthcare is getting in the way of meaningful and personal relationships between caregivers and those who receive care. However, I believe their thinking is flawed. If physicians look at healthcare from the eyes of a consumer, they would see that people – particularly when they are sick and feeling vulnerable –want to be treated with respect, just as any customer does. They would also see that healthcare consumers are doing their homework and choosing physicians and other healthcare providers based on quality data, clinical experience and reputation/word-of-mouth. Some healthcare consumers are even pushing back on poor service, such as opting to bill their doctor for keeping them waiting for an appointment.

Whether physicians like it or not, healthcare is a commodity and consumers are more and more in the driver’s seat. Recognizing and accepting that patients are consumers who have the ability to choose where they receive care will go a long way in helping physicians establish a lasting bond with their patients.

 

 
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