Question: How can healthcare companies provide “better patients with better services at better costs?”
This was the question on everyone’s mind during the FORBES Healthcare Summit last month, especially Stacey Lane.
Diagnosed with familiar hypercholesterolemia (FH) when she was only eight, Stacey Lane, who is now middle-aged, devotes her life to advocating for herself and other people living with FH.
At the summit, she charged the executives from many top healthcare companies to explain the disparity between innovative new treatments, and the difficulty for patients to get them.
And believe it or not, they were listening. Healthcare providers are actually entertaining the idea of a “money-back” type of situation for patients who aren’t pleased with their experience with a healthcare provider.
Healthcare companies are toying with taking processes from tried and true companies like Starbucks, Nordstrom, and even Amazon to improve their reputations. Providers know their customers are unhappy and need confidence and clarity when it comes to a healthcare plan—two things people usually don’t associate with insurance.
However, according the big dogs themselves, if healthcare companies don’t figure out an answer for disgruntled customers, somebody else will.
“What was the discussion at Blockbuster when they could have bought Netflix but didn’t? I think it’s the exact same in healthcare,” said Martin Silverstein, the executive vice president of Anthem.
What it boils down to is this: in this ever-changing market, insurance companies need to step up their game–and fast!
