April 22, 2008 
I guess it gets to the question of how you refer to people in healthcare. Are they individuals? Are they patients? Are they members? Are they customers? Are they consumers?
I was talking with an MD yesterday who asked me what I thought to the question “who is the consumer in health care?”. I clearly think it’s the patient. He thought it was the providers as they were deciding what goods the patient should buy. I was surprised. I could have said it was the payor, but I never would have said the provider is the consumer.
Some of it’s perspective, but some of it is definition. I think if you add copays plus over-the-counter spend plus spend on things like alternative medicine and gym memberships then it is a lot bigger question that simply who pays claims. It’s a key question. if you can’t determine who’s the consumer, it’s going to be hard to agree on the strategy.
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