The consumer-driven model of health care has been commonplace in the United States since the early 2000s. Rapidly picking up steam in the medical insurance marketplace since 2005, high-deductible policies, paired with a Health Savings Account (HAS) have become the norm.
As a result of this, more Americans are paying the entire bill for much of their health care, that is, unless they meet their four-figure deductible. While lowering health care premiums for some, many have to pay a sizable premium only to face a high deductible. This has led to triple-digit increases in the cost of health care over the past decade.
Spending more on health care has made healthcare consumers demand more of the services they receive. Here are three main market drivers in the healthcare industry today.
Value
Consumers want not only good results, but they also want to pay a competitive price for the care they receive. Because they have to spend much more money upfront for medical treatment, health care consumers are more critical than ever regarding the benefit of the treatments they receive.
Convenience
With busy households, many families chose provider locations that offer convenient hours and locations. This trend is especially apparent at supermarkets and national-chain pharmacies and has spread to conventional providers who now offer extended hours to serve their customer base and increase market share.
Quick And Friendly Service
Patients want well-managed medical enterprises that provide the level of front-desk service they have come to expect from retailers and service industry professionals. National retailers are responsive to customer service and are beginning to increase the breadth of their market share by acquiring companies in the health care sector.
An example of this is Amazon’s purchase of PillPack, an online pharmacy company that rolls up convenience and value in its unique drug packaging method. The fact that Amazon had to compete with Walmart to buy the business shows the attractiveness of innovative companies in the health care industry.
Amazon’s ability to get 49 states to approve PillPack’s operation underlines the fact that businesses are looking to diversify need experienced business law representation to deal with the regulatory challenges of forward-thinking enterprise acquisitions.
