ANALYSIS: HEALTHCARE CONSUMERISATION
With the advent of digital health, patients would rather track their health at home than visit a doctor
Healthcare consumerisation in the rise of digital health The paradigm slowly gained traction in recent years, compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic.
T
he ever-changing landscape of healthcare bears witness to various advancements in the technological capabilities of providers. In recent years, the rise of digital health has been visible and the practice of telemedicine has started to gain traction. This is even compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, where most patients cannot go to hospitals and are therefore being treated at their homes through the use of devices. Telemedicine has become a norm and more patients are also taking control of their health. Intending to deliver efficient services to patients and sustainability, healthcare providers are riding on this trend, and the patient’s role shifts towards more of a consumer as they demand convenience and ease whilst accessing healthcare services. However, providers would still have to take huge steps in ensuring a patient-focused experience without sacrificing the quality of services. At the same time, it is worth looking into the paradigm shift that is changing the ways for the industry. 28
HEALTHCARE ASIA
In healthcare consumerisation, patients demand more control and access to personalised and convenient healthcare services
A disruptive force Healthcare consumerisation is a paradigm wherein patients demand more control and access to personalised and convenient healthcare services, and where organisations have become compelled to adopt strategies that emphasise care on patient’s terms. This trend is brought upon by market trends and recent public health issues, such as increased access, consumer empowerment, and the rising cost of healthcare, which are effects of technological innovations and which lead patients to seek cost-effective and quick solutions whilst still ensuring quality. For providers, these trends signify the need to expand beyond traditional services and into new care delivery approaches enabled by new virtual care technologies, since the COVID-19 pandemic upended in-person services. Whilst the healthcare industry struggles to provide services in the wake of an overwhelmed system, patients are also less willing to tolerate delays and inefficiencies in healthcare services. Additionally,
there is a growing concern that patients’ desire for convenient services may have an outsized impact on their decision-making when seeking care. As such, non-traditional sectors such as retail, technology, and consumer packaged goods aim to address these needs by including health and wellness initiatives into their products and services. A report by UBS Investment Bank also estimates the global addressable market for consumerisation of healthcare to be approximately $600b in 2019 and is expected to increase at a 5.5% compounded annual growth rate through 2025. Moreover, a 2018 J. Walter Thompson Intelligence APAC study documented a new turning point for the said paradigm. The study looked into how the latest digital technologies are giving people more knowledge and control of their own health, whilst the scope of personal healthcare itself is expanding beyond the clinics and hospitals to increasingly include services to improve overall well-being. It has also identified consumer trends and opportunities for brands, both in the traditional health care sector—hospitals, clinics, insurers, pharmaceuticals— and its expanding ecosystem, made up of players in areas such as technology, food, beauty, hospitality, retail, the workplace, and medical tourism. “We are seeing patients acting more and more like consumers— moving from a passive to a more active stance. In tandem, and perhaps in response, the medical world is borrowing from the lifestyle sectors,” Chen May Yee, APAC director of The Innovation Group, and the author of the report said. “New players, particularly tech companies, are starting to disrupt healthcare in the same way they did with retail and logistics: by exploiting inefficiencies.” With data from around 2,500 consumers in the Asia Pacific, the study revealed how local startups and tech giants like Alibaba and Tencent disrupted the healthcare sector across the Asia Pacific in
