2018 Trending @Healthcare
While waiting to consult an extremely busy doctor in Kozhikode (Kerala) last week, I couldn’t help smiling at a sign outside his door: “Do not see me if you have already consulted Google!” Is this a harbinger of changing trends in 2018 for healthcare practitioners and marketers?
In an astonishingly similar buying pattern of consumer-shopping experience, patients are scouting for better healthcare experience in every segment with varying grades. Hospitals, diagnostic centres, clinics and other service providers must take cognizance of, and respond to, such patient (consumer) desires for delivering seamless experiences across multiple channels, including digital media. Without internalising the possible trends this year – and the potential patient expectations – healthcare marketers are likely to face heat on both brand image and ROI.
The most attractive customer segment for healthcare marketers is that of educated, affluent, highly informed and involved patients. In order to improve ROI from this segment, marketers need to predict their behaviour in 2018.
Hospitals in India are still centred on doctors, and not patients. The idea of consumerism is not yet percolated to them. With the government looking at privatising health clinics and hospitals, this will change. With the maturing insurance schemes, consumerism will accelerate. The regulations that cushioned the industry from the many volatile situations may soon be a thing of the past. With the proliferation of Internet, consumerism has been on the rise for the past couple of years.
Crystal gazing into healthcare trends will aid marketers in strategising for the future.
First and foremost, the rate of self-diagnosing patients will intensify. Even though their trust in doctors is firm, more and more patients will turn to the Internet before consulting their doctors. Symptoms will be checked for all possible diseases, and a broad diagnosis will be taken for a second opinion, so to speak, from their physician.
Doctors will not lose their relevance as yet but indeed they will have to be up-to-date with medical progress, and provide justification for their diagnosis, and not just the diagnosis. Understanding this paradigm shift – and learning to manage it – will be key in patient retention and competitive advantage.
This trend of patients seeking non-doctor guidance will trigger even more research, advice, opinion and alternate care details online. Healthcare professionals should expect that many of their patients might not follow their directives or might choose modified course of action based on various searches. One good outcome for India will be the increase of medical tourism from the West.
The next trend, which started two years ago, is the increasing propensity for healthier lifestyles. More and more people are embracing the-exercise-and-the-right-food regimen, not just as a New Year resolution. With 50% of Indians below 25, this will intensify and – given the current government policies – vegetarianism will become fashionable. The result? Better health and longer lifespans although pollution and other factors may reverse some of these advantages. The opportunities for repair healthcare such as ortho and neuromuscular will rise.
A related trend that follows is what I term “hygiene eating.” Nutraceuticals will make a grand entry here with many global and local players. Speciality grocery stores such as WholeFoods will be a new thing that will mushroom in cities. Organic will be a theme, locally procured and curated farm fresh produce, non-anti biotic milk, eggs from free-running hens, etc will be fashionable. This hygiene eating will lead to reduced chronic illnesses, lifestyle diseases like cancer, and cardio diseases. People may also look at alternate therapies such as Homeopathy as a complement or substitute for allopathy. Word-of-mouth will be key for choosing the right service providers. Since most allopathic doctors are not trained in alternate therapies, they will continue to deny the benefits of such therapies. Patients will need to know if there will be conflict between the two treatments. If there is no known remedy in allopathy, they will anyway choose alternatives.
Another trend that will be very visible is the increasing medical cost and the apathy of government to rein it in. Adding salt to the wound, insurance companies frequently change coverage with hidden and higher deductibles, termination and other top ups. Patients will become more price-sensitive to services that they have to pay from their pocket over and above the insurance. Healthcare providers should streamline both cashless and cash payment so that consumers can engage in simplified care. It is imperative to bolster confidence levels and reduce uncertainty for patients.
The invisible hand from “The Wealth of Nations” drives the next trend. Although the company-sponsored healthcare schemes started off during the WWII, employee patients will start distrusting the contracted rates and terms of their employer-sponsored healthcare and will demand more transparency in pricing and procedures. They will compare different offerings and prefer providers who are more accurate and open in pricing than others. While government may not launch Obamacare-clones to contain rising costs, consumerism such as this one will lower prices over time.
The yearning for better patient experience will be the next major trend and disruption in this area is visible. The new-age care providers such as Portea offer health tests at home and at low rates than major hospital chains. Such convenience, and personalised care, will fuel expectations and enhance experiences. The leverage points should be obvious. Most patients expect to have a human interface than an IVR when calling to fix appointments and will eventually shift loyalty to someone who can take their calls directly. The halo of “doctors-as-Gods” is slowly disappearing and patients will start leaving from waiting rooms if they are kept waiting for too long. As pilots of airlines remind us we have other choices to fly, hospitals should get reminded that patients have other choices too.
Disruption in the form of health Apps and wearable devices that help monitor everything from the blood pressure to calories burnt will be the next trend. The health ”gamification” will instill lifestyle-based insights to patients that are unprecedented. The devices and technology advances will eventually drive healthcare in a different direction making physical examination a thing of the past unless it is highly complicated. Will this trend result in doctors getting replaced by robots and AI?
Paradigm shifts will continue to seize the healthcare sector in the coming few years but opportunities galore in every consumer segment. Social-media savvy consumers expect and demand services that match their aspirations. Successful marketers will be those who recognise that consumerism triumphs.
