Parks Associates is bullish about patient-centered care because, simply put, the healthcare industry has nearly run out of time and options to rein in escalating healthcare costs. The patient-centered care is the best option on the table, and it is a truly bipartisan solution to a national problem.

Leaders in Healthcare Evolution

Healthcare providers and health insurers will lead this new phase. They have grown comfortable with a more proactive approach to patient care, and over time, they have become more willing to collaborate in order to provide care when, where, and how patients prefer instead of limiting patients' options based on their own resources.

The coverage they provide will ultimately be more comprehensive, and they will design their approach to address needs across the continuum of care instead of targeting a single disease or offering a standalone procedure.

To implement this care model, healthcare providers and insurers will seek help from third-party DM companies and other non-acute care providers, including home health agencies and retail clinics. Such a collaborative approach will be the signature feature of the patient-centered care model. Driven further by technological innovations, the growing ubiquity of connected devices and services, and government incentives and penalties, this model will explode in popularity in the next 10 years.

Do consumers want patient-centered care? Comprehensive data are scarce, but Parks Associates has been researching the digital health area for several years. Consumer trends show a growing interest in personalized solutions to healthcare -- and the use of technologies to enhance these offerings:

• In 2010, about 10 percent of U.S. health consumers interacted with their doctor in a virtual way -- email, online chat, or videoconferencing. With more virtual care options offered from health insurers and health networks, this percentage is rising in 2012 and 2013.
• Also in 2010, about one-fourth of consumers who visited health websites expressed strong interest in communicating with an online physician other than their primary care doctor. In 2012, this percentage jumped to 30 percent.
• In 2011, among health consumers with at least one chronic health problem, 27 percent wanted a personalized action plan from their healthcare providers to address their health management challenges.
• These data point to growing interest among consumers in receiving care with convenient access and personalized options. They are also open to new provider types as part of the care-management experience.

This push toward patient-centered care will redefine delivery of healthcare, moving it out of traditional institutional settings and more into the connected home and mobile space. This shift will also alter the allocation process of healthcare dollars.

Consumerization of health IT improves consumer care access and changes care providers' approach to engagement with current and future patients. It also creates a new need for technologies that can leverage today's connectivity to improve and enhance healthcare delivery.

It will be a difficult space in which to succeed, with often stringent requirements for security and uptime, but there will be ample market, and partnership, opportunities for connected-home technologies.

From the article, "Bringing Healthcare Home From the Hospital" by Harry Wang.