Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/66918
When Is a Patient A CONSUM UMERER? The model of patient-as- consumer that took off during the past decade relies on unconstrained, rational, informed decision-making. But how often do people make health decisions freely or rationally? What They're Saying It's a mistake to treat healthcare patients like other consumers. GIANNA ERICSON Senior strategist, service design, Continuum Understanding generational differ- ences is the key to guiding patients. CAM MARSTON President, Generational Insights You must help people build a men- tal model of how data relates to the condition they're dealing with and translate the data for them. AUGUSTA MEILL Vice president, Continuum Social media has grasped the way we think. People are accustomed to ask- ing for advice in their circle of trust. ERIC MUELLER President, WCP services payer markets, practices need to know patients will make the right choices to keep themselves healthy. To put it bluntly, doctors will increasingly be paid to man- age patients' behavior. As of now, understanding patients' choices looks more like an art than a sci- ence. Competing models derived from healthcare, insurance and marketing purport to tell pay- ers and providers how best to understand and direct patients' thought processes. As pay for performance looms larger in the public and private Patients Are Consumers, and Consumers Want to be Informed. When people open their hospi- tal bills, they no doubt feel like 52 consumers, and industry thought leaders have urged providers to view patients more in this fash- ion. The proceedings of a 2006 Purdue University healthcare summit urged healthcare deliv- ery systems to think of patients as next-generation consumers who are: Increasingly knowledge- able about managing their healthcare consumer with her down-to-the- milligram accuracy in weighing decisions represents the ideal Technologically savvy Engaged in the decision-making process The informed, cool-headed Better informed at point of care about benefits, risks, costs and alternatives for treatment