Recently, the healthcare website Fierce Healthcare published Dr. Andrea Simon’s article, “What Do Patients Really Want…and Do Docs Care?”
In her article, Dr. Simon writes, “I have been conducting Innovation Games with consumers for a healthcare system client and have been struggling with the huge disconnect between what patients really want in the care and caring that physicians and healthcare systems are supposed to deliver, and what they’re getting. As I help patients deconstruct the healthcare system, they readily express their total frustration with a system that is broken.”
She then discusses the common complaints concerning doctors, insurance and the entire healthcare system:
- The overwhelming disconnection – “This doctor doesn’t talk to that doctor, or this office is not part of my insurance network so I cannot go there but that is where my records and past physician relationships were created.”
- The loss of trust – They cannot tell if a doctor is prescribing something they need or that the doctor needs, for either an income stream, an insurance process or to protect himself from malpractice.
- The misdiagnoses in urgicenters – These centers are not a convenience or an asset to the community they are serving. If anything, they are perceived to pose a risk. They are blamed for misdiagnosing a person’s child or parent or the person themselves.
- The lack of consideration for their time – Everyone had a story about taking time off from work only to sit for far too long, even hours, in a physician’s office, waiting to be seen for only 15 minutes or less.
- The physician is not “engaged” with them – These are people. Yet doctors don’t look them in the eye, don’t spend time trying to understand what is bothering them, and are quick to prescribe medications but not interested in exploring other options. And it is not only the doctors but often the entire staff as well.
Most interesting to Dr. Simon was the degree to which these consumers, all of whom were between 25 and 54 in age, were anxious to get mobile applications that they could use themselves to help diagnose and manage their conditions. DIY healthcare is going to be very hot, she predicts.
To read Dr. Simon’s entire article on the Fierce Healthcare website, click here.
About Dr. Andrea Simon and Simon Associates Management Consultants
New York-based Simon Associates Management Consultants (SAMC) serves clients in a wide range of industries from manufacturing, OEMs, customer care, hospitals, and other healthcare institutions to colleges and service industry companies, among others. One of the keys to SAMC’s success is helping the leadership at companies to “see, feel, and think” in new ways. For more information, visit www.simonassociates.net. You also can follow SAMC on Twitter (@andisamc) or Facebook.
