Quit Wasting My Healthcare

Strategy #9 for Improving Healthcare Value: Watch Patients like a Hawk

Yes, patients need to take responsibility for their health.  Yes, they need to be active participants in their care.  But, the reason they go to see the doctor is because they don’t know what’s wrong with them or they don’t know what to do about it.  And here is the kicker, about 50% of what I find wrong with people are things they didn’t even know were wrong—high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, hadn’t received a pneumonia vaccine, hadn’t been screened for colon cancer.  So you can’t just rely on the patient, the doctor has to identify and follow up on the unknown, unknowns before they cause a major problem—a stroke, heart attack, kidney damage, lung infection or metastatic cancer.

The key to delivering high value healthcare is not so much intelligence as it is diligence.  The health care provider just has to be relentless.  It’s double-booking your clinic visits so you can see that new diabetic weekly or twice a week until their blood sugar is better controlled.  I’ve seen hospitalizations avoided with that approach.  It’s sending letters to every woman who is referred for a mammogram, but never goes to get it.  One doctor just told me yesterday that mammography screening rates at a clinic that used that technique increased from 40 to 90%.  That doesn’t take smarts.  It just takes follow-up.

Find diligent doctors and you will find value.  If you can’t find diligent doctors, create your own diligence system–some employers are hiring a health coach to watch patients like a hawk.