The Shifting Focus to Patients, Really?

Everywhere I turn I’m reading articles and tweets that talk about the shift of healthcare towards the patient. All the EHR vendors are touting various patient focused features. Supposedly, a new engaged patient is getting involved in their healthcare and doctors are having to focus much more on the patient that they’ve ever done before. The drum beat of patient focus is being beat in so many places.

Is this really happening or is this just the topic du jour?

Some might argue that things like meaningful use’s patient engagement requirements are pushing this movement forward. However, those who have worked to meet those requirements know very well that meeting the meaningful use patient engagement measures doesn’t look very much like true patient engagement. The concept was interesting, but the actual implementation leaves a lot to be desired.

I have recently seen some patients start to care a little bit more about their health than they did before. This is driven largely by the high deductible plans. It’s amazing how getting people to pay for their care will change their attitude. Although, even then it hasn’t made people want to care about their healthcare. It’s just made them more informed on the price of the healthcare they receive.

Has the healthcare system really turned towards the patient? Are we any more focused on the patient now than we’ve ever been before? I don’t think we are. For all the talk, I haven’t seen much action and I can’t think of something that’s really going to dramatically change things.

I’d love to hear if people disagree. Do you see a shift of focus towards the patient? Have we always been focused on the patient, and so it’s not really a shift at all? Are there things we should be doing to encourage a shift to the patient?

About the author

John Lynn

John Lynn is the Founder of HealthcareScene.com, a network of leading Healthcare IT resources. The flagship blog, Healthcare IT Today, contains over 13,000 articles with over half of the articles written by John. These EMR and Healthcare IT related articles have been viewed over 20 million times.

John manages Healthcare IT Central, the leading career Health IT job board. He also organizes the first of its kind conference and community focused on healthcare marketing, Healthcare and IT Marketing Conference, and a healthcare IT conference, EXPO.health, focused on practical healthcare IT innovation. John is an advisor to multiple healthcare IT companies. John is highly involved in social media, and in addition to his blogs can be found on Twitter: @techguy.

10 Comments

  • It’s such a gimmick. As if anyone is going to say they are not patient-centric. I don’t believe there is any “shift” involved whatsoever. It’s a catchphrase, nothing more. Bandwagon to jump on and try to get a less intelligent person to think you are somehow better than someone else. It’s a gimmick, nothing more.

  • Agree with Dr. West’s comment. Patients will start to adopt when there’s some value in it for them — not because their doctor is participating in a new program. I do think we will (and are starting to) see some new opportunities for vendors specific to this need, but because they are (in my opinion) in most cases not as mature as EHR vendors and docs aren’t as convinced of the need, it’ll be some time yet before they really catch on.

  • There’s no question that shifting the responsibility of payment more to patients will impact attitude. Whether it’s positive or negative impact depends on the value they feel they’re getting. Right now, we’re at a transition phase. Patients will continually play a greater role in their care moving forward. With access to unlimited information and health communities online and “Dr. Google’ for a first opinion, the doctor is becoming more of a second or third opinion. There are also over 100,000 health apps available, most of which are catering to the patient, not the doctor. I believe that with time, the role of the primary care doctor will ultimately transform to more of a health coach – one who can offer guidance, work more with the patient in health maintenance with customized protocols for each patient. The data now being assembled through EHRs and the analysis of that data will make this all possible. Consumerization of healthcare is not just a buzz term. It’s reality.

  • If I may, the reason I am seeing folks taking more interest in their health, and not simply bobbing their head to what ever their doctor tells them is this.

    Every day, the public are becoming aware of the unholy nature of medicine, and in fact botched care is the number three cause of death in America.
    People are realizing, going to the doctor can likely kill you. Healthcare is also the number one cause of personal bankruptcy.

    So, from more and more of the public perspective, …If you ain’t dead or bankrupt now, staying away from your doctor is not a bad idea.

    Thank you for considering an unfortunate truth.

    Danny Long

  • Some organizations, like Virginia Mason, seem to be walking the patient-focused walk. The vast majority, however, are just talking the talk. It’s disheartening.

  • Complete rubbish (not your article, John, but the babblegaff the vendors are putting out !

    1. Most of the EMRs are glorified billing systems with Meaningless Uselessness “enhancements” whose main focus seems to be on the collection of long term outcomes data.

    2. Most of the docs are now data trolls (not by choice) – they have no time to input any info that might help patients to avoid, manage or recover from diseases/conditions.

  • Wow! Candid discussion for sure. Refreshing and disturbing all at the same time. I would argue that there are organizations out there focused on leveraging technology to deliver results to patients and their primary care physicians faster and more succinctly than ever before. Which ultimately delivers a better and more appropriate care path. Call it patient-centric or call it just common sense but it is happening.

    I would suggest that you can’t generalize all healthcare players as not delivering a patient-centric model especially within their area of specialization. It all comes down to the people and their commitment to the patients who put their trust in them.

  • Mike,
    I love that we’re candid, refreshing and disturbing (when necessary). You’re right that you can’t apply a generalization to everyone. There are exceptions to every generalization. Although, if it’s an appropriate generalization, then we can learn a lot from it and hopefully fix it so it’s no longer true.

  • If it’s one thing I’ve learned about the 25 plus years I’ve spent in healthcare is that providers are people just like anyone else. Some step up to deliver something exceptional. Others not so much. My advice to all is to seek out a medical group that has strong governance and respected leadership that holds all physicians accountable for delivering on a patient focused care model. With any business – accountability is key.

  • The shift towards value based case is real, as are high deductible plans. This leads to patients being more selective, conservative and hence better informed when consuming care. Thus any health care entity that wants to be competitive will cater to these needs and offer more transparency around value. This value is often reflected as convenience and is surfaced as on-line appointments, on-line results, telemed encounters etc. These are not imaginary , in fact the growth rates for these services are very high. Thus far I believe the changes are positive and will drive further patient involvement with the aim of reducing costs, improving outcomes and offering more convenience. However, I am cautiously optimistic and agree that these changes are not readily apparent.

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