As many of you know, my night/weekend job is building an internet healthcare services marketplace. (My day job is currently helping an insurance company build an internal consulting unit). As we’re nearing the end of an initial design phase, I’m wrestling with the answers to a few questions and was hoping some of you might be willing to share your perspectives.
I’d be curious to get your thoughts on what makes you access non-catastrophic health services (broad definition incl. wellness, alternative health, nutrition, medicine, dentistry, etc):
- What characteristics differentiate technically competent providers? How do you find out about them?
- How do providers come to understand your needs from the visit? Do they tend to address your needs or their preferences?
- How relevant have recommendations from friends/ family been for you? Did you find you were looking for the same things that they were?
- For everyday issues, how do you see tradeoffs between expertise, manner/ personality, convenience, and price?
- Is continuity important inherently, or only because quality/ experience is so variable (i.e., someone who works has a trusted brand vs. you really do want to see that person over and over)?
Appreciate any perspectives you’re willing to share! If you don’t want to comment below, please also send replies to consumerfocusedcareATgmailDOTcom
|
Posted by
Vijay Goel, M.D. |
Categories:
Uncategorized | Tagged:
consumerism |
Interesting news flash from the pharmaceutical industry, and another reminder why the choice of metrics is so important: Zetia (the other half of Vytorin) while lowering cholesterol, simultaneously increases the growth of plaque in the coronary arteries. How’s that looking for a price: benefit ratio?
While it didn’t appear clear what the overall outcome was vis a vis heart attacks and clinical outcomes, it appears to be a disturbing finding that brings into question the benefit of the drug.
A refresher from my article on metrics:
There are two types of metrics, process and outcome metrics. Process metrics are seen as means of getting to desired results, with outcome metrics being the desired results. Outcome metrics are the things that really matter– in medicine this would be rates of morbidity and mortality, with good patient experience also potentially a desired outcome.
continue reading »
Thanks to the NYTimes, we now have another example of insurance companies dictating how care is to be delivered, through a one-size-fits all payment system: Aetna has decided that sedation is an unnecessary expense in the performance of colonoscopy.
Aetna, one of the nation’s largest private health plan managers, is the latest insurer to clamp down on the use of a powerful anesthetic during an increasingly common form of colon cancer screening.
The company will send a letter to doctors on Friday, saying that it plans to classify the drug as “medically unnecessary” for most such procedures. As of April 1, Aetna plans to stop paying for its use in those cases.
continue reading »
