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Has the buyer behavior changed for healthcare in your markets. This has serious implications for strategy.

Transcript

Today in health, it more patients delayed healthcare over costs in 2022 that according to a Gallup poll. And we're going to talk about what that means. My name is bill Russell. I'm a former CIO for a 16 hospital system. And creator of this week health, I set up channels dedicated to keeping health it staff current.

And engaged. We want to thank our show sponsors who are investing in developing the next generation of health leaders, short test and artist site two great companies. Check them out at this week. health.com/today. Having a child with cancer is one of the most painful and difficult situations a family can face in 2023 to celebrate five years at this week health we are working to give back.

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We believe in the generosity of our community. And we thank you in advance. Alright, so gala poll was done. Let me just read from it. It's pretty short story. So Gallup found that 38% of respondents or family members delayed treatment over costs in 2022, a 12 percentage point increase compared to 2020 and 2021. The.

The swing coincided with. Economy-wide inflation reaching a 40 year high. Last year spike in delayed care was the largest over one year. Since gala first began tracking these data more than two decades ago, the previous high was 33% in 2014. And 2019. While an average of 29% of patients reported delayed care.

Over costs from 20 R 2001 to 2021. More than one quarter of those who participated in the 2022 survey said the care they four went was for very or somewhat serious conditions while 11%. What without care for non serious conditions, lower income people, younger adults and women were among the groups.

More likely to delay care. And this is from a modern healthcare story. If you are going out there to look for it.

So, let me give you my soul out on this. , the question of delayed care and putting off care becomes, is it going to come back? And at what point is going to come back and if it doesn't come back, what are we going to see? Well, we're going to see sicker patients, right problems. Don't get better with time.

It's just a, it's a truism. And so people are generally going to get sicker. They're going to show up sicker. And they're going to have more complications as a result of that. So that's, that's one problem of it. The second problem is a financial one. Right. So. You have to ask yourself the question, does this indicate a change in buyer behavior?

So our buyers. Looking at and selecting health care differently. As a result of cost. Or as a result of price transparency, or as a result of the economy. And if they are. And potentially they are choosing other options or they're being directed by payers or others for different options. What does that mean for your business model? The problem with providers is we have very expensive infrastructure for acute care.

Right. Those campuses that we have, those hospitals that we're so proud of, those are becoming anchors. They are way too expensive to operate. And so as we move forward, If you are. , if you are seeing a lot of this care, get deferred or go to alternate care sites, you're going to have to compete. And in order to compete, you're gonna have to set up those alternate care sites. You're gonna have to go to the home.

You're going to have to go to ambulatory surgery, surgery centers, and urgent care. And a lot of health systems have done that, but they haven't done it in a way that cannibalizes their existing revenue, because if they do that, there's a significant financial penalty to be paid. I mean, you're talking about.

, care venues, which could represent two to seven times decrease in cost to the overall patient. Not delivering on that very expensive campus. And I think what you have to do is you have to, you, you can't answer this on a broad national basis. You have to look at it market by market, and you have to look at it based on where your markets are. And we saw this with the common spirit announcement where they said, Hey, we're going to.

We're essentially heading towards a $2 billion, , reduction in overall costs, but Hey, we're going to be increasing our spend in two of our markets. And it's two of the markets that are growth markets. They're in the Sunbelt and they're looking to, , really expand their footprint in those markets.

The Sunbelt in general has been growing again, not true everywhere. You have to look at it market by market. But if you look at Florida, Texas, Arizona. These are growing markets. And as you look at that, you have to say, all right, , you know, what is our, what is our approach in those markets now, other markets, which could be stagnant markets or even declining markets.

, it could be a completely different strategy. Regardless. The question always is, has the, the buying decisions has the behavior of the consumer changed. And if it has, how are you going to adjust your model? , like I said, those, those campuses are great for attracting people to acute care for long-term stays, but the reality is more and more care is going ambulatory. , the surgery centers are becoming more effective.

And safe options and alternatives were being directed there by payers and payers are getting more sophisticated. Our buyers in terms of, , the, the employers and the commercial payers is getting more sophisticated and they are directing the consumers and the consumers. Quite frankly, aren't looking for a surprise bill.

They're looking for defined costs, and this is why price transparency. Isn't a regulatory item. It is a consumer experience item. They need to know how much they're going to pay before they start the process so they can determine whether they're going to get that care. And I know, I understand that when a physician hears this, they're sort of cringing.

And they're saying, well, people shouldn't decide to get care where on whether they should pay for it. They could pay for it or not. , but at the end of the day, that's just reality. , people are not going to engage in getting the care if they can't pay for it. And they don't know. In fact, the doctors don't know, no one knows when you go into a hospital, how much it's going to cost or where the bills are gonna come from. Some come from the hospital, some come from.

You know, the, the, the anesthesiologist and I mean, you get bills for the next three months from all these different sources and you never know when it's going to end. No one knows when it's going to add, it's really kind of a. It's a completely broken model from a consumer standpoint. The consumer wants to know, Hey, I'm going in to get this done. How much is it going to cost? They need to see the bill ahead of time ago. Yeah. Hey, you know what I'm going to do that I I'm committed to my health. That makes sense. I can afford that. I'm going to do that when they don't.

, the, the absence of information breeds fear. And when you have fear, people will delay care. , but that's that the, the, the question is, has your buyer. , changed has their behavior changed. And if it has, you need to identify that very quickly, how are they buying care? How are they evaluating care?

, and then you have to adjust your strategy. This isn't just an it strategy, although very much influenced by an it strategy. If your buyer behavior has changed, you're going to have to go to them. You're going to have to reach them. You're gonna have to understand how they're making decisions and you're going to have to position and, and, ,

And put your services in front of them in a way that they can consume it. They can understand it and they can make a decision. , towards care at your venue and at your health system. So a lot of implications from this story, I hope I did adjust it. It felt to me like I was all over the board. But I want you to hear this. You have to understand.

Has the buyer behavior changed? How are they making decisions on care differently in your market today? And if they have strategy, decisions need to be made quickly to adjust for that. Otherwise you go the way of blockbuster video, not just a cliche. All right. That's all for today. If you know someone that might benefit from our channel, please forward them a note. They could subscribe on our website this week out.com or wherever you listen to podcasts.

And I'm, this really helps us. Send a note to somebody, let them know that you're listening to the podcast. , they can subscribe wherever they listen to podcasts, apple, Google, overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, you get the picture wherever where, and they can also find us on our website. We want to thank our channel sponsors great partners for investing in developing the next generation of health leaders 📍 short tests and artists i check them out at this week health.com/today. thanks for listening that's all for now

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