Assessing the Health Care Environment for 2025

Despite the significant upheaval in the retail health care sector over the past year, consumers still have plenty of choices for accessing care.

And as the recently released AHA 2025 Environmental Scan points out, convenience in accessing care and affordability are primary drivers in consumers’ decision-making processes.

The AHA Environmental Scan contains data, surveys, trends, thought leadership and educational resources, illustrating some of the top issues facing the field, including workforce, financial stability, care delivery transformation and greater value. This scan can help leaders plan for the future of their organizations and consider ways the field can move forward together.

Pay Close Attention to Access and Navigation

In assessing factors that drive consumers to change providers or select a new provider, an Accenture survey from earlier this year highlighted the following:

• 89% of respondents said ease of navigation was the top factor that caused them to switch providers.
• 70% cited access, which includes convenience, digital interaction, telehealth and customer service, as a top factor driving patients to select a new provider.
• 53% said they selected a new provider based on a trusted physician or referral from a friend and the communication skills of the new provider.

It’s worth noting that in navigational challenges cited by consumers, factors such as difficulty in doing business with the provider, bad experiences with the front desk or administrative staff, and problems with digital/online service and support solutions all weighed heavily in patients’ decisions to change providers.

3 Ways to Improve the Consumer Navigation Experience

Within the environmental scan, Lee Schwamm, M.D., senior vice president and chief digital health officer at Yale New Haven Health, offers three tips for creating an ideal digital state for consumers:

• Provide ubiquitous broadband and high-quality, affordable access not just for health care, but digital access in general, which will positively impact the social drivers of health.
• Employ a cyber-secure platform for data interoperability so devices and wearables can travel on a highly secure, standardized platform that is fully integrated with electronic health records.
• Deliver a better developed, autonomous layer/toolkit powered by artificial intelligence that would do much of the preprocessing and deliver standardization and uniformity. It must be equitable and accessible. Digital redlining is real.

So, what do patients want from their overall digital health experiences and applications from providers? A report from Gozio Health this year found the following:

• 78% want to view or review lab tests in the providers’ apps.
• 73% want to view their medical history online.
• 73% want to message their providers within the apps.
• 68% want to request medication refills through the apps.
• 64% want to schedule appointments themselves through the apps.

Affordability Worries Many Consumers

The rising cost of health insurance is another factor impacting consumers. Nearly one-third of consumers cited affordability as the most important factor in their health care experiences, noted a report this year from Huron Consulting.

Meanwhile, worries about being able to afford care and health insurance premiums are impacting a large percentage of the population, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation report from this past spring. That report found the following:

• 47% of adults reported that it is difficult to afford health care costs.
• 48% of insured adults worried about affording their monthly insurance premiums.
• One in four said that in the past year they skipped or postponed getting the health care they need because of cost.
• One in five said they did not fill a prescription because of cost while a similar percentage said they instead opted for over-the-counter alternatives.

Download the AHA 2025 Environmental Scan for a more complete look at the issues impacting the health care landscape.