Trend 5: MyMarkets

Healthcare enterprises must balance the need to look holistically at healthcare services with the need to begin to look at discrete consumer experiences within these services more granularly, right down to a specific moment. Moments offer unique opportunities to better personalize the experience for individuals. Non-traditional players have begun to adopt this mindset and they are seizing opportunities for differentiation.

For instance, Bind on-demand health insurance is not pre-packaged for large employee groups. Instead, individuals select the type of coverage they need—at the moment they need it. For instance, a consumer would be able to get maternity coverage they need mid-year because perhaps they weren’t planning to have a child. Individuals can have “core coverage” but use a simple app to purchase “add-ons” as needed.

Heidelberg University Hospital in Germany is working with Siemens to introduce digital twins to patient care. In one instance, a cardiologist used a digital model of a patient’s heart to test the efficacy of different placements of a pacemaker’s electrodes.¹ This is just the beginning of “in-the-moment” personalization in healthcare, where experts hope to use technology to create whole “living” models of individual patients. These digital twins could help medical personnel evaluate the potential outcomes of different treatments for individual patients.

There are limitless opportunities to meet individual consumer needs in the moment, but healthcare organizations must first know that the opportunity exists. In the era of momentary markets, forecasts and predictive models won’t be limited to long-range planning or major trends; they will be used for everything to anticipate key opportunities. The other piece of the puzzle is being able to act on those moments when they arise.

Identifying moments takes creative energy but acting on them requires sound execution. Digital is the invisible enabler behind the scenes.² Healthcare organizations can put systems in place to take action. Just as an airline app acts on moments throughout a traveler’s journey—from online check-in, to meal selection, to advice on things to do after landing—a health app could do the same.

Fjord, part of Accenture Interactive, is working with Henry Ford Health System to develop a Care Experience Platform that utilizes connected devices and an emphasis on “whole person” patient data to elevate the care experience. The platform will help patients better navigate their care while streamlining their visits to healthcare facilities and creating more personalized interactions with providers, nurses and hospital staff.

Imagine a patient awaiting physical therapy. A healthcare app could notify him or her of the expected wait time for treatment. If the wait is long, the app could push an offer for discounted coffee at the onsite cafe. During therapy, the app could push notifications to designated family members so they are aware of timing. These small actions during small moments can alleviate the pain of waiting, answer questions before they are asked and enhance customer satisfaction for the patient and his or her family.

For instance, machine learning company macro-eyes increases access to care and enhances customer satisfaction through intelligent patient scheduling. Its AI-powered product Sibyl cuts the financial and operational impact of patient no-shows by learning from patient behavior. Sibyl suggests appointment times based on data, increasing the likelihood that the patient will show and maximizing utilization across the entire schedule. Arkansas Heart Hospital, based in Little Rock, is deploying Sibyl to increase utilization, cut patient no-shows, and drive a reduction in empty slots by a targeted 50 percent. Streamlined clinic utilization increases patient and provider experience and decreases the overall cost of care. The California Primary Care Association is partnering with macro-eyes to bring Sibyl to its more than 1,300 not-for-profit community health centers across California. The goal is to increase access to care and transform scheduling into an efficiency engine for the safety net institutions that care for California's most vulnerable populations.

¹ “Medtech Firms Get Personal with Digital Twins;” Reuters, August 31, 2018; Medtech firms gets personal with digital twins

² “Physical Fights Back;” 2018 Trends, Fjord; Physical fights back

³ “3D-printed Models Assist Complex Brain Surgery for Encephalocele;” Boston Children’s, June 30, 2016; 3D-printed models assist complex brain surgery for encephalocele

⁴ “Rush to Become First 5G Hospital System in U.S.;” Healthcare IT News, January 8, 2019; Rush to become first 5G hospital system in U.S.