What Does the Patient/Consumer/Beneficiary/Person (pick your word) Care about when Accessing Care?

A new survey commissioned by Accolade (I am Chief Medical Officer and a founder of Accolade) performed by Harris Interactive (the Harris Poll people) attempts to answer that question.  From a medical vantage point, it may seem like a simple, obvious question. The person accessing care wants to get better!  However, the answer is much more complex.  People, when ill, tend to worry about more than those aches, pains and other symptoms. 

The title asks one question but implies a second question.  What does the person care about is the first.  The second is whether the person accessing care is a “patient” a “consumer,” a “beneficiary,” or some combination of all of those?  While physicians and nurses clearly prefer to see those in need as patients, the most used and perhaps overused term in the health industry these days is consumer.  This often appears to be aspirational as programs and companies are formed to try and find the magic formula with which to induce patients to purchase health case as if it were any other consumer item.  I question whether the emotional nature of illness, and the impact created by the potential for catastrophe inherent in medical issues will ever allow the patient to truly be a consumer.  “Consumers” traditionally are focused on cost and feature comparisons such as deciding whether to get leather seats in a new car.  I don’t believe that when you or someone you love is ill, you ever are a true consumer as implied by that example.  However, at the same time patients are rarely if ever only worried about the cure which use of the term patient may imply.  They are worried about their family, their finances and how their illness will affect all aspects of their life.   People, therefore must be helped to understand the value potential in each health service and see clearly how those services relate to their life issues.  That may fit into the term “consumer” even more than it does into the term “patient.”

I date myself a bit by using the term “beneficiary” as this is the traditional way insurance companies have described those who enroll in their health plans.  I rarely hear that term used in today’s world.  “Consumer” has replaced “beneficiary” except in legal documents.  People “benefit” from the access to care and the financial security that health insurance and health plans offer hence the term beneficiary.  Fundamentally beneficiary communicates the ability to gain access to care and to guard against financial catastrophe rather than reflect the care itself or guard against medical catastrophe. 

I admit to struggling with the right word to use as I jump between the different but co-dependent worlds of health care delivery, health benefits, and the business of health.  For the person in need, the distinction between these worlds means very little and actually just reflects some of the challenges of obtaining needed care in today’s world.  This is reflected in this survey.  It asks questions that approach the issues with the knowledge that each respondent is a complex person with multiple concerns that overlap into all these areas. 

The Accolade Consumer Healthcare Experience Index Poll surveyed 2.046 adults over the age of 18 of whom 1,536 have health insurance through their employer, private insurance or Medicare.  What was clear from the poll is that the experience of accessing care is seen as a daunting task for those in need.  While they trust their physician for health information with 74% saying that they prefer to get information from their physician, they are frustrated by a lack of coordination and challenged by the benefits rules and the costs.  Overall, 53% stated that the hassle of “understanding what care will cost me” and “coordinating all aspects of care” was the major problem that they faced when ill.  It is interesting how strong the fear of these issues is, even perhaps surpassing the simple question of getting accurate diagnosis and treatment. 

67% of those surveyed said that they wanted their health care providers to understand their life circumstances more in order to address their illnesses in a better way.  People understand, perhaps even more than many health professionals that coping with an illness while coping with all the challenges of everyday life are intertwined.  The idea of a physician treating a disease without good knowledge of their other needs and responsibilities whether they are related to work, family or finance is a source of frustration.  80% told the surveyors that they would want a single person to trust to be with them and help them navigate the systems and navigate the challenges of their lives when they require care and they appear to recognize that person is not likely to be their physician.  These numbers reflect a widespread concern with the impact the disease has on a person’s life and family and not only a concern with the biology of the illness.

 

Much of this comports with ideas a group of us had some nine years ago when we, led by Tom Spann as founding CEO started dreaming of a better way to help people through the health care system and the health benefits system.  We had to rethink the consumer and the patient and the beneficiary and think about how to create not just a company, but a new profession, that of Health Assistant, supported by the right information technology and the right management systems.  The Health Assistant has to be part insurance expert, part social worker, part financial advisor, part coordinator, part health educator and most importantly a trusted friend.  While training and experience is needed, equally important are the management processes, the right content that is always kept up to date on the technology platform, the right pay structures and metrics for the Health Assistants, and a sense of purpose and responsibility towards those being helped.   The technology has to support and drive all of those functions while avoiding the trend to become a checklist that harms the human interaction that is core to the function.  We have done that.  We have proved that we can help people in a very positive way and help the health care system as well with our approach. Data from this poll only confirms our initial dream and makes us want to work even harder to continuously improve our systems, training and approach in order to bring this type of support to everyone.