What is Healthcare Consumerism & How Can Your Practice Benefit?

October 24, 2022

Healthcare consumerism has been a rapidly emerging and evolving concept in the 2022 patient/provider landscape, leaving many practice owners and healthcare professionals looking for new ways to connect patients to their patient care experience.

Historically, this concept rose to popularity between the 1930s and 1940s, as more patients advocated for universal healthcare and higher standards of care across populations. That trend has changed over the years, now defining the ability of patients to fully personalize their patient experience, ranging from management to payment.

Patients are looking for new ways to take charge of their healthcare journey, and practitioners can more readily connect with their patients by creating opportunities to account for the growing need to personalize and tailor their approaches – putting healthcare optimization and autonomy back in the patient’s hands.

One of the best ways to do this is by implementing high-tech and safe technological solutions into your patient’s daily healthcare experiences, ranging from care strategy & access to bill payment & financial management. Offering patients new opportunities to maintain autonomy, transparency, and trust in every step of the healthcare experience can instantly advance your overall brand perception to your patients.

Technology can also assist in catering to the trend of healthcare consumerism, especially by creating new opportunities for convenience and accessibility across consumer groups. Reminders, automation, and healthcare management tools are all vital parts of the present-day healthcare experience, allowing your practice new opportunities to provide value across your patient population.

If you’re looking for a place to start in order to pivot your processes and make them more adept to the healthcare consumerism model, you might consider mapping out what the patient experience looks like for the average patient in your practice. Drawing up this ideal customer profile & buying journey (ICP) can offer valuable insight into what your current type of customer is needing and currently expecting from their journey, showing you new places where you can add value.

Truthfully, it’s never been easier to cater to the current needs of healthcare consumerism and doing so can support higher overall incoming revenue–and result in more positive patient outcomes.

Zotec offers innovative Patient Bill Pay solutions and end-to-end revenue cycle management

Looking to give your systems an overhaul? Technology is vital to keeping your practice on the cutting edge of innovation and accessibility, especially as you work to meet the needs of modern-day health consumers. For more information and to get started on your systems optimization process, please connect with us today.