What creates patient trust? If we don’t know, we can’t build it.

Jenny Parker, EY Oceania Health & Life Sciences Leader

I recently participated in Australia’s first health-ecosystem wavespace™ experience – an amazing event that saw industry leaders from both the traditional health environment and new entrants discussing five critical issues facing the healthcare ecosystem.

The future we talked about was exciting – but very different.

One of our five discussion topics was around the fact that, whether by default or design, Australians are taking a larger responsibility for their own health. And with this comes seismic change.

The democratisation of information and a greater focus on supported self-care in medicine is shifting purchasing power from payers and providers to people. In future, we will see an increasing demand for: more value-driven care, price transparency and the use of digital and mobile technologies to make access more convenient for patients.

The big casualty of this shift is trust.

Although trust in doctors remains high, they are no longer seen as the source of all wisdom. Increasing numbers of Australians consult “Dr Google” for information on possible diagnoses and treatments before they attend a medical appointment.

You only need to visit one of the many health forums, where patients with the same disease share information and support each other, to see the volumes of patients who are second-guessing their GPs and specialists.

In our brave new technology-enabled, digitally connected world, trust is the currency to drive consumer and patient loyalty.

But many healthcare institutions are lacking a real understanding of what trust means in today’s society.

The traditional model of care sees physicians in the driver’s seat when it comes to patient decisions. Now, people are moving from “I am a patient” to “I am a person”. 

In this new reality “Trust me – I’m a doctor” doesn’t always work.

Armed with increasing amounts of information, patients want to participate in decisions about their own health. They want to be asked for their opinion, consulted on treatment options, informed – rather than told – about outcomes, and given a role in their own self-management.

Healthcare providers need new engagement models.

While 60% of physicians think Australia’s health system is “Excellent” or “Very good”, this is only true of 42% of consumers. In considering how they will close the gap, healthcare leaders should consider how they will improve trust. Options include:

• Understanding the patient journey – Currently, we only capture “moments in time” of healthcare practice to measure quality and safety. In future, we need to look at the end-to-end experience that patients and families go through across their healthcare journey.

In the US, leading hospitals are implementing a variety of strategies to better understand patient needs and to improve the overall patient experience. For example, the Cleveland Clinic has established an “Office of the Patient Experience”, which serves as an advisory resource for critical initiatives, providing resources and data analytics; identifying, supporting, and publishing sustainable best practices; and collaborating with other departments to ensure the consistent delivery of patient-centred care.

• Owning the social media debate – Like it or not, online doctor rating websites are becoming increasingly popular. The Australian Whitecoat – dubbed the TripAdvisor for healthcare – provides an online healthcare provider directory and more than 250,000 anonymous “customer” reviews of Australian healthcare practitioners.

Rather than leave it to the market to host unofficial forums for people to review physicians, should hospitals be proactive in this debate? The University of Utah hospital’s website has a dedicated “Find a doctor” section that proactively seeks patient reviews.

• Allowing patients to participate in the science – Healthcare providers can harness patient forums, not just to share stories – but to share their experience and their data. This not only increases access to data, the subtext is important. It says: “patients know things that we don’t. Together, we can find a solution.”

Sites like patientslikeme are giving people advanced tools to track their health progress and compare themselves to others with similar biological characteristics. Members can also opt to make their data accessible to researchers.

As healthcare leaders prepare for a very different future, trust is the anchor for determining strategy and customer engagement.

But trust is multi-faceted. It’s not just about the doctor-patient relationship, it now extends to technology. Health providers who earn trust on both sides will have a major advantage.

Australia has a ready-made market of consumer-patients who already use digital in the rest of their lives. When will they have the same opportunities in healthcare?

How will you win trust from healthcare customers?

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The views reflected in this article are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the global EY organisation or its member firms.