Consumers Are Informing Themselves...So What?

Ipsos tracks consumer trends on a global basis, including those that impact healthcare. In a study conducted in 2016, they asked nearly 20,000 people from more than 20 countries how much they rely on their doctors, posing the question this way: To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement — I always try and find out information on healthcare by myself, rather than just relying on what my doctor tells me. In the US, 74% percent of respondents agreed.

I find this interesting on a couple of levels. 1) There’s a lot of talk in the medical world, as well as among payers (think health insurance companies, large employers, the government) about “shared decision making.” The idea is that doctors need to engage their patients in making decisions about their health at the right moments throughout their treatment, whether that’s management of a chronic condition or in some cases an acute scenario like surgery or chemotherapy. However, that model tends to assume that the doctor is supplying the clinical and medical information, and the patient is supplying information about their personal situation — say, household income, support network, religious preferences, job constraints. It does not contemplate the patient bringing to the table information about and challenging questions based on their own healthcare research. 2) It’s notable that in the Ipsos study, the only countries in which respondents agreed with this statement even more than in the U.S. were countries non-Western: India, Indonesia, South Africa, China and Russia. Of these, only India, Indonesia and China have larger populations than the U.S. to contend with. 3) Although the study doesn’t contemplate why the results are what they are, the number of factors in play is likely large and various: culture, availability and cost of medical consults and treatment, availability of information and access to the internet, quality of healthcare…the potential reasons go on and on. What stands out is that consumer-patients in the US share a belief and behavior with those from countries with even larger populations and/or far less wealth.