What really is 'Consumer Driven Healthcare'?

Sometimes we all fall victim of simply taking our doctor’s advice and not asking questions about treatment options, generic prescription substitutions, and alternative health care management. Consumer Driven Healthcare is the basic principle that individuals, who seek medical treatment, do so in a more educated fashion, which in turn means a more financially responsible way – asking questions regarding cost of services and treatments and learning more about prescription drug alternatives. Essentially, Consumer Driven Health Plans (CDHP) with a Health Savings Account (HSA) or a Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) incentivizes participants to become savvy consumers – to use their money more wisely and, more importantly, begin to have meaningful conversations with their doctors about receiving higher value healthcare.

In a recent study released by American Insurance Health Plans (AHIP) -February 2009, highlighted a study published by HealthPartners’ in 2007, which showed members who had a CDHP plan used HealthPartners Web-based tools to compared costs and quality at a rate thirteen percent higher than the members in a traditional health care plan. This is a significant percentage of people in 2007 (2 years ago) that were more engaged in their healthcare spending – they were exhibiting signs of being better consumers of healthcare, something that everyone believes is necessary to improve health and decrease healthcare costs. The same study by AHIP also noted that sixty-three percent of enrollees with Health Savings Account eligible plans tracked their healthcare expenses, compared to 43 percent of non-CDHP enrollees.

So what does this all mean?

Why is this relative?

Why should I seek out more information about CDHP?

The answers are simple. It’s time for consumers and their primary care physicians to take responsibility of their health, ensuring that they we receive the best care for the best price from the best doctors and medical providers. It’s time to bring consumer awareness into healthcare. Consumers can make other complex purchasing decisions for their homes, autos, travel, and consumer electronics—they can do this for healthcare as well.