Health Care Disruption? Consumers Say, “Bring It On”
Is disruption a good or bad thing? It depends on whom you ask.
// By Jane Weber Brubaker //
Let’s talk about disrupters. Health care has largely viewed those encroaching on its turf — from retail, big tech, and startups, among others — as a threat. But how do consumers see things? Before the COVID-19 pandemic, consumer experience in other industries shaped expectations of health care, and health care didn’t often measure up. Then, with the onset of the pandemic, delivery of everything changed, including delivery of care.
Rob Klein, founder and CEO, Klein & Partners
To keep patients and physicians safe, providers converted office visits to virtual visits. Urgent care — and even hospital care — came into the home. “COVID taught everyone you can get the world delivered to you,” says Rob Klein, founder and CEO of Klein & Partners.
Klein, with co-presenters Laila Waggoner, senior health care strategist at Core Health; and Dean Browell, chief behavioral officer at Feedback, shared recent research on consumer attitudes about disruption in their session at HMPS 2022, “Disruptive & the Traditional: What Do Consumers Say?”
Laila Waggoner, senior health care strategist, Core Health
The changes brought about by the pandemic are now part of the permanent landscape, and it’s clear what consumers value. “Consumers are going to use whatever’s convenient,” Waggoner says. “They don’t really care who’s providing it.”
“We keep acting like health care isn’t a transaction,” says Browell, “and the consumer absolutely sees it as such.”
Here, we share key findings from Klein’s quantitative research, insights from Feedback’s study of consumer behavior on social channels, and results of a poll of health care professionals and how they view disruption.