Can Healthcare Evolve Faster if We Walk in Patients’ Shoes?

While health systems are slow to adopt new models of care, it’s not stopping innovative competitors from meeting consumers’ rightful demand for a better experience. Right now, you can visit eye doctors and pharmacies where you pick up your milk, download apps that allow you to digitally try on glasses and then get them sent to your home, and have necessary medications shipped right to your front door.

My view of the future came into focus years ago. When I was a 26-year-old intern fresh out of medical school, I had a patient with children in tow who came 35 minutes late to an appointment. Saying I was frustrated is an understatement. I met with the patient and, afterward, my supervising doctor requested that I trace the exact steps this patient took to get to our clinic. Making a very, very long story short, what would’ve taken me 20 minutes to drive took me 90 minutes on public transportation.

I thought I was waiting on her. In truth, she was waiting on us. In fact, everyone is waiting on us.

Too often, patients are waiting. Whether it’s calling a clinic and waiting on hold for the receptionist, sitting in the waiting room because the doctor is running late, or driving around running errands waiting for a prescription to be ready for pick up, patients are waiting.

But people are really waiting for health systems to deliver a better experience. For many, waiting is simply an outdated way of life. Part of a bygone era where retailers and businesses expected people to come to their storefronts. Today, people don’t want to wait on companies—in fact, they won’t wait. And they’re tired of waiting for healthcare to better meet their needs.

Health systems can start by aligning our models with patients’ goals. As health systems, we shouldn’t wait until patients get sick to engage with them. Our incentives should be aligned – keep patients healthy. And if they need care, we must provide it in the least expensive, least restrictive way possible.

How can we do it? At Intermountain, we’ve added new consumer-friendly tools, including the My Health+ app that enables people to make appointments, check lab results, and check and pay their balances. The expansion of telehealth has also done wonders, especially in our rural communities where it has become an indispensable tool. Patients who live hours from a major city can now consult a specialist in their hometown, avoiding the time-consuming, expensive inconvenience of a long drive and hotel stay. Still, healthcare has a long way to go.

These innovations are helping us close the gap with other industries on consumer experience. To go beyond, Intermountain is adopting a multifaceted approach to prevention that includes team-based primary care, addressing the social determinants of health, and deploying next-generation precision medicine to help everyone stay at least one step ahead of disease.

To do all of this, that first step should be taken in the shoes of our patients. Gaining that critical perspective is how our nation’s health systems can run faster toward a new model that focuses far more on keeping people healthy.