The increasing shift toward more patient-centered healthcare

The changing healthcare landscape has resulted in people demanding more transparency and involvement in their care, driving a progression to more patient-centered care. According to a recent Huron Consulting Group study, 53% of the patients reported being willing to switch providers for superior virtual care, despite 75% of them being satisfied with their care.

Such consumer behaviors, which were typically seen in retail or finance sectors, are now quite prevalent in healthcare, inspiring the industry to make a transition toward more patient centricity.

A confluence of trends has also resulted in a growing number of digital health tools, providing people with more information and control over their healthcare.

Increased computing power, consumer adoption of mobile technology, changing expectations about convenience and the growing network of internet-connected devices — all have come together to bring in this transformation.

A transformation to more patient-centric healthcare

During the COVID-19 pandemic we saw many healthcare organizations accelerate their innovation agenda, supported by quick adoption by providers and consumers alike. A shining example of this is the embracing of telehealth services. While these services had slowly been making a mark in the industry, the worldwide lockdown compelled people to accept it as the new normal.

According to a report by McKinsey, about 40% of the people who availed telehealth services during the pandemic said that they would continue to do so in the future — a 29% increase from before.

This thriving new ecosystem has only been made possible through the sophisticated tech available at the palm of our hands through smartphones and easy internet access; and it will only grow bigger and more advanced from here on. So now the next big question is: How do we utilize this new-age, technology-enabled innovation to further enhance the patient experience?

The role of technology in a more patient-centric approach

The use of technology in a more patient-centric approach to healthcare can facilitate collaboration among the stakeholders of the ecosystem, such as patients, professionals, insurance providers, hospitals, pharmacies, drug companies, policymakers and families, which would not only decrease the room for error but also improve transparency.

The last couple of years gave us a glimpse of how advanced technology can offer immense opportunities to enable person-centered and integrated care; but it’s important to understand that it demands connected, intelligent information systems with easy-to-navigate user interfaces.

The Internet of Things (IoT), as an example, has the potential to play a significant role here. It can assist in healthcare surveillance by early detection of health concerns and by rapidly integrating data received from tests. Additionally, it can help in monitoring the patient's status and relaying that information to physicians and personnel in real time, enhancing the overall efficiency of the healthcare system.

However, these strides cannot be made by the industry players alone without support from governments, and commendable initiatives like the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) prove it. ABDM aims to achieve integrated healthcare delivery by connecting the digital health solutions of hospitals across the country. This would include teleconsultations, diagnostic services, ambulance services and more.

Placing patients at the center of the system

As patients have become more involved in their care decisions, the need to redesign contemporary health care systems to enable closer collaboration between healthcare beneficiaries and healthcare professionals has become imperative.

Creating a world where every person has the opportunity to live their healthiest life requires connecting people, data, and clinical excellence to drive more informed care that yields better outcomes. And to access high-quality, affordable healthcare that meets every patient’s unique needs, we need to bring the patient to the center of our ecosystem.

For instance, focusing on personalized preventive care and wellness programs enables decision-making backed by personalized insights and ensures more efficient and effective care.

A pressing issue

According to a report by the World Bank and WHO, about half of the world’s population cannot afford essential health services. With lifestyle and chronic diseases on the rise, their management and treatment would further add to this burden, as would the rapidly aging world population requiring frequent care.

Since healthcare services are becoming increasingly expensive, the transition to patient-centric care becomes more and more urgent. With a system that focuses heavily on preventive care, we can expect a balance between the demand and supply for curative care and consequentially, a decreased and more affordable cost of healthcare.

A great way to accomplish this would be through value-based care, which focusses on improving quality of care for patients and aligning the incentives of provider and payer. This includes the following key elements:

• Provider-managed risk that encompasses the entirety of a patient’s care, not just episodic risk and incentivized preventive care
• Deploying targeted population health programs through expanded networks
• Integrating data and consistently reporting it across stakeholders in financing and healthcare delivery
• Payer-provider collaboration that frees the provider from focusing solely on fee-for-service volume while enabling payers to launch competitively priced insurance products that can break the cost curve

Walking into the future of healthcare

The future of healthcare is a simpler, more affordable, more patient-centric and more accessible health system that helps people live healthier. It needs to ensure that when patients are faced with a healthcare challenge, they don’t feel a sense of dread or anxiety about navigating the system on their own.

Organizations do need to realize that at the other end of all benefits claims, every authorization, every click and every call is a person. And at the end of the day, this is what it’s all about — helping people live healthier lives and helping make the health system work better for everyone.