KPMG Healthcare Report, Open Data & Consumer Comparison Shopping

KPMG’s recently released report "Something to Teach, Something to Learn" draws together the collective views of KPMG Global Healthcare experts and 40 practitioners drawn from 22 nations who participated in the Global Healthcare summit.

Surveys of KPMG member firm clients revealed that while nearly all healthcare leaders accept that the way the industry works will change over the next five years, only a quarter of them are preparing to overhaul their business models. Many argue that they will be able to get by without such a transformation.

According to the report, the consequences of such inaction will put the future competitiveness and commercial survival of such healthcare organizations at serious risk. Bottom line, healthcare payers – be they governments, public sector bodies, insurance companies, or individuals – are no longer willing to continue along a route that does not deliver the best possible value for patients. Payers are looking to lower costs and get better value from existing healthcare systems.

Where traditional models of healthcare providers have focused on increasing volumes, new ones are beginning to focus instead on outcomes, quality and the need for integrated, closely-connected services which directly benefit patients. Where healthcare once waited for people to become ill enough to require complex and expensive hospital care, today the industry is increasingly honing in on prevention and patient self-management at home or in the community,

Some of the recommendations in the report touch on the need to reform current billing and payment systems.  Expect increased competition and comparison shopping for healthcare services by patients over the coming decade. The  availability of 'open data' on the cost of medical procedures performed by healthcare organizations , coupled with public information on outcomes, quality of care, and patient satisfaction is going to be a major game changer.  See related Open Health News article on Consumer Comparison Shopping for Healthcare.

For many healthcare provider organizations, the coming transition will be difficult -  and things will get worse before they get better. However, time is of the essence. Each healthcare provider organization must find their own path as they seek to transform themselves and remain competitive over the coming years.