Brian Klepper On The Consumerism Myth

Here’s a figure health consumerism advocates should be pondering very seriously: 19%.  According to a 2006 HealthView Plus study, only 19% of consumers are “quality driven.”  These are the individuals who are:

-Likely to research ratings information on hospitals or doctors
-Likely to change hospitals if it received a low quality rating

Brian Klepper, writing at the Health Care Blog has this take on the study:

“[T]he subtext of this information is undoubtedly that the most important changes coming in health care will occur not only in the ways that consumers get and act on information, but in the ways that organizations - health care and non-health care businesses - do.  Even though health care information can have serious utility for individuals, many of us simply don't appear to be built to chase and use it. Businesses are different though. Most are based on a discipline of following through, and they succeed or fail on their ability to use information effectively.”

In one respect, this finding is not that surprising.  Many of us with employer or government-provided insurance have been trained to “set it and forget it.”  We go along with the insurance selected for us and – unless we are denied coverage – really don’t think about it too much.  In fact, I’m one of those individuals.  Although I write on and think about healthcare, insurance and the convergence of technology and health, I don’t spend a lot of time shopping around for the best doc and hospital.  This is partly because this information is still hard to find.  In addition, my insurance provider has no provided me with incentives to engage in this behavior.

What do you think it will take to get more consumers interested in taking more control of their health decisions?  Also, be sure to read the comments on Klepper’s article.  They are quite interesting.