Thought Leaders in Mobile and Social: Interview with Dan Hickey, SVP of Products at Alliance Health (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: When you look at what happens in the industry, mobile, social, and technology in general are impacting the healthcare industry in a big way. What are some of the key trends you observe?

Dan Hickey: I think it is the big push in healthcare right now. It is being done in a very fragmented way. But the big push is around patient engagement. Everybody is pushing for patient engagement, because a couple of things are accomplished. If you can do patient engagement and do it well … everybody in healthcare would give you a different definition of patient engagement, although there are standardized models that have been created and that I think are particularly useful. But it is still very complex and almost academic in nature.

I would say that patient engagement is a sustained relationship with the patient along his or her health journey and that does in fact influence that health journey. The reason this is important to the entire healthcare ecosystem is that the lack of patient engagement has driven up costs. From a patient side, it has created undesirable outcomes. There are studies that show that, for example, a person goes to his doctor’s office and is diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Engagement two days after the doctor’s visit is very high. Then, when you check back with that patient weeks later, the engagement level is back where it was, where the patient isn’t following the treatment plan. That plan can be complex and involve drugs, an exercise plan, and a meal plan. That patient, left to himself in an unengaged state, has a chance of ending up in the hospital for an amputation or going blind because he was not engaged, their outcomes weren’t managed, and it costs the healthcare system a lot more money that it should have.

So, the whole healthcare system is moving to a place where we have to reduce costs, where the engagement with patients has to happen. On the provider level you see there is more outreach, more attempts to do relationship building, etc. If you do that, the healthcare provider will be incentivized to actually see that patient and communicate with that patient more. And the provider will be penalized in some way if that patient ends up in the emergency room. That is what I think we are all trying to do right now. You have to provide value to the consumer first. That is what I think is the big nut [to crack].

A lot of people are approaching it from the provider side, but I think the problem is they are approaching it from a non-consumer-centric view. Just as an example: I moved out here last year and I went to a new primary care provider recently. While I was there, I finished up my physical and they had me sign up for MyCharts. MyCharts I think is their attempt to do engagement. I have some tools there where I can create an appointment. My medical records from that provider are there. But the problem was that after I signed up, I got no communication from the provider, and there was no welcome email, and no explanation of how I could use this as a positive force in my life.

My view is that patient engagement is what this is all about and where we are all moving. A consumer-centric view is going to be essential for winning in this space. When you look hard at this, there are many diseases that are what we call non-health responsive, where you just pick a combination of drugs, and you either take them or you are going to be very ill and potentially die. There are lots of conditions, like type 2 diabetes, obesity, or arthritis to some extent, where behavior change is a critical piece to a good outcome. We think peer support to motivate change, behavior change, can be a powerful force, and you are starting to see research now on group coaching as a good way of influencing behavior change. The field of behavioral economics is exploding, and there are ways to incentivize patients. There is a lot going on and a lot that is fragmented, but it really is about sustained engagement with patients.

SM: What role does the doctor play in this model?

DH: Nobody is trying to replace the doctor. We are trying to be complementary.

This segment is part 5 in the series : Thought Leaders in Mobile and Social: Interview with Dan Hickey, SVP of Products at Alliance Health
1 2 3 4 5 6 7