“Uber and/or Accountable Care Organizations?”
Becker’s Hospital Review reports that that was the question on the first side of the presentation of Brad Helfand, Sg2 ‘s associate vice president for consulting, at a recent Becker’s conference, where he talked about “Health System Strategy in the Age of a Retail Consumer.”
He said that three core concepts for consumerism today include:
1. Shopping online.
2. Price comparison.
3. Freedom of choice.
“We think that now is the time to think about your channel strategy. We are starting to see channels that never existed in healthcare in the past, including mobile applications, virtual health, direct-to-employer contracting and onsite clinics for employers.”
“Within the new consumer-driven healthcare market, the concept of leakage is very real. Patients who were previously loyalists could go into a channel directing them to another organization….”
And he noted: “There aren’t many organizations creating service area strategies for the ambulatory footprint, but that’s where consumers are headed.”