The Year of the Consumer
Last year, with crises coming at us from all directions, it was sometimes hard to know what to focus on. Within the virtual walls of the HLTH VRTL 2020 conference, though, the focus was all on the consumer.
A few short years ago, healthcare providers and other vendors were all seeking to better understand consumers: what they liked or didn’t like and how they would react to different mediums. This effort continues, but armed with what we’ve already learned – and galvanized by the global pandemic – solution builders have forged new products that satisfy consumer needs and deliver on payer expectations like never before.
Throughout HLTH, vendors like AmWell, Oscar Health, IBM, Walgreens, and Omada highlighted the consumer. According to them, consumers want an omni-channel experience that is convenient. Let me rephrase that: Most people want to get their healthcare needs met and their questions answered in the mode that is easiest for them, whether that is digital, in-person, phone a friend, poll the audience, 50/50… you get the idea. That’s a big ask, and a herculean shift in benefits philosophy for some. So where to get started? Let’s break it down into three pieces:
Have the right solutions. Building a portfolio of solutions that deliver value to everyone in a five-generation workforce can be a challenge. Employee surveys coupled with data analytics are critical to understand the population and direct resources to what matters most to your employees (and to your bottom line). This won’t be accomplished overnight or even in an annual planning session. Take the time to choose the right target and develop a thoughtful approach to reach it.
Let the data do the talking! It gets harder as you add vendors, but appropriate information must be shared between all the solutions used by your members. At HLTH, IBM unveiled their Digital Health Pass -- a blockchain solution that tracks a member’s health status. While this may seem a step too far for some, you can seek contractual coordination between all the parties that have an interest in keeping your members healthy and happy. They should be able to deliver data to each other in a timely manner and a mutually agreeable format – and you should be able to use the data to improve user experience and outcomes. These are small but valuable steps, and you can start now.
Making it easy to do the right thing begins with giving members value-added solutions that deliver high-quality outcomes -- if we don’t start here, what’s the incentive for the member to use them? By carefully curating solutions at competitive prices, employers can align the incentives for provider, payer and member to all do the right thing. But for many employers, assessing the value of health solutions – both those already offered and others available in the market – is new territory. Mercer has created a suite of solutions that can help at every stage, from defining quality to reviewing opportunities to deploying strategies that deliver high-quality services to your members and their families while not breaking the bank. Interested to learn more? Check this out.
A clear focus on the consumer will be table stakes for employers of choice in the years to come. That’s the reason to start today.
The second annual HLTH conference on innovation in healthcare took place in October, and Mercer again sponsored a series of sessions for employers. We encourage you to explore these 30-minute sessions. They begin with a short introduction from an industry CEO, followed by an interactive discussion between two to three employers.