Nowadays, consumers have more options than ever before. A user can get access to information about any product or service. Brands track the needs of their target audiences and flexibly respond to them. This is consumerization in action, and it is gradually entering the healthcare industry. Let’s consider what the term means for medicine and what role information technology plays in the process.
📌 What is the consumerization of healthcare?
The consumerization of healthcare is focused on patients and not on the entire market. This means that doctors treat each patient on a personalized level. Medical workers are not only focused on the services they provide but also on communication with their patients. With this approach, the medical staff is interested in:
- what kind of support their patients need;
- whether the patients have access to digital services;
- whether one can view personal medical data;
- if the cost of treatment is affordable and other information.
Medical service providers take these points into account to ensure loyalty and improve the quality of services. Researchers at the Center for Consumer Engagement In Health Innovation (the Center) at Community Catalyst identified five top things that consumers do not like in healthcare:
- people see that doctors are indifferent to them during consultations;
- patients believe that the main motivation of doctors is making a profit and not helping them;
- consumers want to cooperate with a reliable provider of medical services, and not change them constantly;
- people want to contact doctors remotely when there are no clinics nearby;
- consumers want cheaper medical services.
Healthcare providers who try to respond to these requests and personalize medical services become patient-centric and competitive in the market. Information technology and healthcare software are the driving force behind consumerization.
📌 The role of technology in the consumerization of healthcare
Thanks to technological innovations, new methods of treatment, procedures, and medicines appear. Thus, medicine is advancing and healthcare providers are becoming competitive. Technologies make it possible to collect and process valuable data and use structured information to diagnose diseases, treat and rehabilitate people, and create new drugs. Let’s take a look at a few examples of medical applications that promote consumerization.
✅ Telemedicine platforms
These are applications that connect patients with doctors regardless of their location. A user makes an appointment with a healthcare professional through a scheduler, choosing the necessary specialist from the rating system. At the appointed time, they call the doctor via video link and receive recommendations and an electronic prescription. Some programs, like this Telecare tool developed by a European healthcare software development company, have embedded AI-based triage system calls. In emergency cases, this system calls in an ambulance for a patient.
✅ IoT applications for health monitoring
Healthcare providers strive to arrange personalized care by collecting as much information about a patient’s health status as possible. They monitor clients remotely using IoT applications. Sensors, smart watches, fitness trackers, and devices for measuring health status are connected to such programs. The collected data is recorded in an application, so a doctor monitors the treatment progress and decides when it should be stopped.
With IoT applications, patients feel safe under constant medical supervision even outside the hospital.
✅ Applications for diagnosing diseases
Healthcare software development companies also offer ways to diagnose diseases that are much faster, more efficient, and cheaper than traditional ones. A good example is this AI platform for checking test results for COVID-19. The system analyzes raw laboratory data, generates reports on the results of the study, and displays them on the information panel.
96 tests are checked in less than a minute. Thus, laboratories benefit from increased productivity, and patients like this method of diagnosis because it is cheaper.
✅ Applications for managing electronic prescriptions
Another step toward customer loyalty is to make sure that patients don’t visit clinics unnecessarily. So, they won’t have to adjust their work schedule and waste time getting one prescription only.
This problem is solved by applications for managing electronic prescriptions. On a platform, patients remotely receive digital prescriptions, check the addresses of pharmacies, and send orders to the nearest one with the help of business analysis in healthcare. A pharmacist packs the right product, and a patient only needs to pay for it at the checkout.
Clinics, laboratories, and hospitals are introducing new technologies to better serve patients and win their loyalty. People have become more health-conscious and willing to interact with doctors through healthcare apps.
📌Conclusion
The consumerization of healthcare has just begun, and medical services are gradually getting personalized, accessible, and convenient. Information technology and healthcare software development plays a significant role in the transition to patient-centricity. Medical applications save people time, help them better monitor their health, and maintain regular contact with doctors.
If your organization is on the way to consumerization, consider which healthcare applications will help make this transition happen. Contact a healthcare software development company that can help you build a platform that will meet the needs of your patients.
