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Consumer Engagement
Date: 1/1/2016
Elsevier Clinical Solutions
This is the first of a series of issue briefs on patient and consumer engagement
from Elsevier Clinical Solutions. This issue brief focuses on making the business
case for patient and consumer engagement especially as it relates to the services
of hospitals, health systems, medical groups and payers. Subsequent issue briefs
will zero in on implementation of patient and consumer engagement, team-based
collaboration for patient engagement and new and emerging patient and
consumer engagement trends. For more information on patient engagement
solutions, visit elsevierpatientengagement.com.
Patient and consumer engagement are structured around sustainable behavior
change of patients, family members, caregivers and healthcare consumers. As a
discipline, process and strategic priority, engagement flows throughout the
continuum of care from hospitals, health systems and physician practices to
labs, imaging centers, pharmacies, retirement centers and long-term care facilities.
Patient and consumer engagement embraces the ecosystem of lifestyle and care
choices promoted via education, business, media and the community. Schools,
churches, restaurants, retail stores, sports facilities and fitness centers can
reinforce, accelerate or torpedo patient and consumer engagement, according to
Sonika Mathur, Senior Vice President, Patient Engagement, Elsevier.
It takes a village to inform, educate, engage and empower patients, families and
consumers to take charge of their health and healthcare, as well as the health and
healthcare of their families and the public, she says. Healthcare organizations
have the knowledge and clout to mobilize the village, improving outcomes and
controlling costs.
Engagement also guides patients and consumers to knowledge and
understanding of their own health, the process of healthcare and the ways of the
healthcare system, noted Dr. Peter Edelstein, Chief Medical Officer, Elsevier
Clinical Solutions.
Engagement transforms patients and consumers into advocates and champions
for their own health and the health of friends, family members and the entire public,
says Dr. Edelstein. When patients and consumers experience authentic education
and empowerment, they become their own best providers.
Secure C-Suite and board buy-in for patient and consumer engagement.
Secure short-term and extended financial, clinical and operational support for patient and
consumer engagement, education and empowerment from C-suite executives, including
CEOs, COOs, CFOs, CTOs, CIOs, CMIOs, CNOs and CNIOs.
Other vital chief officers and senior executives include those responsible for engagement,
experience, innovation, transformation, population health, accountable care, marketing,
clinical integration, data analytics, reputation management or performance management.
Organizations may want to expand the responsibilities of existing senior executives to
include patient and consumer engagement or recruit and develop professionals to fill the
roles of chief engagement officer or vice president, patient engagement. Others may
decide to position patient and consumer engagement under existing divisions and
departments, including marketing, accountable care or population health management.
Just as bookends
support books on a
library shelf, so patient
and consumer
engagement support
population health
management.
Sonika Mathur
Senior Vice President,
Patient Engagement, Elsevier
C-suite executives and board members may not need a full-blown implementation plan, but
they want to review the principles, values and strategies that will support patient and
consumer engagement initiatives. Consider elaborating on concepts like the following:
Continuum of care and living: Our program will integrate engagement, education and
empowerment into the expanding continuum of care. We will provide information,
education and advice across every continuum of care setting and beyond in homes,
automobiles, workplaces and other environments where individuals and families are willing
to access, assimilate and act upon healthcare content. We will pursue engagement
through the complex ecosystem that shapes the health and lifestyle choices of patients,
families and consumers.
Healthcare journey: Our program will deliver engagement, education and empowerment
no matter where the patient, family member or consumer stands in the healthcare journey:
information gathering, knowledge sharing or decision making on prevention, symptoms
3
Secure short-term
and extended
financial, clinical
and operational
support for patient
and consumer
engagement,
education and
empowerment from
C-suite executives.
They also incur costs significantly higher than those with the highest activation scores,
leading Hibbard to suggest that healthcare organizations assess activation scores and
engage patients to improve patient outcomes and lower costs. Among the specific
findings of her research:
Patients with the lowest activation scores had predicted average
healthcare costs that were eight percent higher than costs for
patients with the highest activation scores.
Among patients with high cholesterol, those with the lowest
activation scores had 12 percent higher predicted costs compared
with patients with the highest activation scores. For patients with
asthma, those with the lowest activation had 21 percent higher costs.
In the first half of 2011, patients with the lowest activation had 21
percent higher costs than patients with the highest activation.
Research completed in 2015 reveals that when patient activation
levels change, health outcomes and costs change too. 3 Higher
patient activation levels are associated with better clinical indicators,
more healthy behaviors, and greater use of womens preventive screening tests, as
well as lower costs two years later.
Among other evidence points on the link between patient engagement and lower costs,
better outcomes and an improved patient experience are the following:
ElsevierPatientEngagement.com
3 http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/34/3/431
4 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1466928
5 http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/29/7/1310.full and http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11841136
6 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11032203
7 http://appliedresearch.cancer.gov/areas/pcc/communication/pcc_monograph.pdf
8 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1495336
9 http://www.the-hospitalist.org/article/patient-activation-measure-tool-helps-patients-avoid-hospital-readmissions
Whats the optimal relationship between patient and consumer engagement and
population health?
How do patient and consumer engagement contribute to effective population
health management?
How does the absence or weakness of a patient and consumer strategy stymie
population health management?
How could enhanced patient and consumer engagement initiatives improve the
management of chronic diseases: CHF, COPD, asthma and diabetes?
How could we re-engineer existing engagement initiatives to improve population
health outcomes?
Date: 1/1/2016
Author: Elsevier Clinical Solutions
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