There is a revolution going on in healthcare. Information rich patients are getting savvy, demanding treatments from their GP. Doctors are responding by prescribing to patient wishes. The consumer healthcare industry is focused on meeting the 'well-th' needs and wants of the public.
But this is NOT the revolution I'm referring to! The empowered consumer was yesterday's revolution. Tomorrow will be increasingly about CONSUMER ACCELERATED HEALTH.
Under out noses, consumers are reorganising and reprioritising what they do in their lives and what they want in their lives. What they want is more trust and transparency and what they do is more open and internet based. Meaning? Consumers are turning away from 'experts' and finding faith in 'others like them' on the internet.
Disintermediation is happening in most sectors – goodbye travel agencies, goodbye record labels... It's happening in healthcare too. This dynamic requires four pre-conditions and all are met in the health arena. People must want to be open and share information. They need to be driven to spend time and take action. There must be a ready and willing tribe to chat/exchange/advise. Finally there has to be an accessible place – the internet.
Rather than passively react to the healthcare industry, consumers are starting to participate, to collaborate, to join together. This is new. Rather than be at the centre of the healthcare system, surrounded by the experts, together they become proactive actors in true peer-to-peer fashion, pushing the so-called 'experts' to the periphery.
Of course, the future is already here for all to see.
Patients-Like-Me describe their online business as “patients helping patients live better everyday”. They have 80,000 people actively participating in 11 disease communities. Macmillan Cancer Support gets over 4 million unique visitors and hosts active forums and chats. In well-being, Mumsnet and Nike Running have huge following communities - all real 'fans' and many participating and collaborating with each other.
http://www.patientslikeme.com/
http://www.macmillan.org.uk/
http://www.mumsnet.com/
http://nikerunning.nike.com
And whilst paradigm movement can already be seen, I've identified seven levers which will ensure that Consumer Accelerated Health has a growing and massive impact over the decade ahead.
Those impacts will be profound for the health industry – necessitating internal cultural change, increasing technological capabilities and launching radical new products and services.
Organisations wishing to keep ahead of the consumer curve have to invest NOW in the insights, ideas and implications of Consumer Accelerated Health – the central paradigm for the 2010s.
