More On The Economic Impact On Healthcare

Deloitte just published the results of a survey they did which continues to hammer home the issue of how today’s economic times are affecting people’s health behaviors.  I am just getting ready to do my webinar on this.

Here are some of the results from Deloitte:

• Only 6 percent of Americans surveyed believe their family is completely prepared to handle future health care costs.
• More than half of respondents surveyed said that reducing costs (67 percent), increasing access (56 percent) and improving quality (57 percent) of health care are issues that are important to them in selecting a president.
• Of the survey respondents who reported delaying or skipping care in the past 12 months, 27 percent said they did so because they could not afford the cost.
• Nearly half (47 percent) said their household’s spending on health care products and services has increased during the past 12 months, and 63 percent said it limits their spending on other essentials.
• Twenty-two percent said they have an outstanding medical bill that is more than 90 days past due.

So, I guess the question is “What are you doing for your members?”:

• Are you helping them understand how to save money?
• Are you encouraging them to stay compliant with their medications to avoid complications?
• Are you encouraging them to be preventative (e.g., flu shot) to avoid ER visits?
• Are you providing them with timely guidance on when to use Over-the-Counter (OTC) medications versus prescriptions?
• Are you helping them split medications?
• Are you moving them to mail order?
• Are you encouraging 90-day prescriptions?
• Are you offering them incentives for being healthy or managing their health – coupons, points?

We are seeing a lot more interest from members in this information.  They don’t know what they can do, but they want to do something.

Of course, the challenge is setting up these programs, personalizing the messaging, and getting results.  For those of you interested in these programs, contact me.  We have had some great results offering these as a turnkey service and driving the success rates up dramatically.  [2-5x improvement in 5 weeks]