Dr. Erkan Hassan

Monthly Writings

Evaluations and reviews of the latest in the field.

Paradigm Shift for Health Systems and Retailers to Co-Exist

SUMMARY:

  • Retailers are offering the experience patients want and disrupting the healthcare system.

  • Health systems must strengthen patient relationships by combining digital solutions with in-person care when appropriate.

  • Retailers and health systems will need to be interconnected for total patient care.

REVIEW

  • Retail organizations (Amazon, Walmart, CVS, Walgreens) are applying their size and consumer expertise to disrupt healthcare.

  • Patients find their offerings compelling due to:

    • One-stop convenience

    • Efficiency

    • Services offered

    • Affordability

    • Welcoming attitude

    • Transparency

  • This disruption should cause concern for health systems:

    • When was the last time a patient described the health system with any of the descriptors above?

    • There needs to be a reinvention of care delivery and the patient journey in order to improve patient engagement.

    • Health system need to develop and offer solutions that are more effective and efficient.

    The Value of Retailers in Healthcare:

  • Size:

Scope of Retail Sites Reach

  • Retailers are separating patients from traditional care models by obsessively focusing on providing customers what they want.

  • In addition to virtual care, retailers include a portfolio of “wrap around services”: grocery, durable medical equipment, prescriptions, supplements.

  • Services offered by retailers will vary and be unique for different market segments.

  • Retailers are not trying to do “all of healthcare”.

 

Health Providers need to reinvent how care delivery is provided.

  • Develop solutions to improve patient engagement.

  • Offer solutions that are effective and efficient.

  • Improve services that can only be provided in a facility setting.

 

Health Systems & Providers Factors for Success

Critical Success Factors for health Systems & Providers

  • Develop and offer high quality virtual care services. 

    • If in-person and digital engagement are not offered in an efficient manner, the system will likely lose a segment of usual business.

  • Increase efficiency with the implementation of clinical quality improvement programs.

  • Embrace a more patient centric approach

    • Provide distinct strategies outside the walls.

    • Move from reactive care to proactive care

    • Offer a competitive edge over what retailers can provide.

Retailers and HealthSystems will need each other to be successful

CONCLUSIONS:

  • To be successful, hospitals offering high quality virtual care can improve quality of care and fine tuning services for a more positive future for patients.

  • Retailers as well as traditional providers and health systems will need to be interconnected, with virtual options a key component.

Erkan Hassan