Today’s healthcare landscape is more complicated than ever. It involves many overlapping stakeholders and moving parts, from traditional care delivery to numerous digital health solutions. It can be confusing, frustrating and costly for everyone involved.
Successfully managing the complex connectivity between consumers, providers and payers in this landscape requires coordination. Zane Burke, CEO of Quantum Health, shares his views about how the right navigation solution can help.
Describe how you see today’s healthcare landscape.
Zane Burke: As healthcare leaders, we have to look at it from a consumer’s perspective. It’s overwhelming. Imagine being diagnosed with a significant health condition, such as cancer. The diagnosis itself can be paralyzing.
Yet, people are forced to put aside their health to manage appointments, insurance, payments, and much more. The wrong path can lead to delays and can impact access to care, care delivery, and even more challenging health and financial outcomes.
Having support to help navigate this journey can lessen this burden. It leaves all the hard stuff behind and allows consumers to focus on what’s important – their health. Ultimately, healthcare navigation should be essential for all.
How does a fragmented landscape effect healthcare costs?
ZB: The complexities of the healthcare experience cause inefficiencies, which drive up costs that could otherwise be avoided if navigated properly.
In fact, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, patients in the U.S. spend more money on healthcare than in any other country in the world. Healthcare spending per person in the U.S. was almost $11,000 in 2019, which was 42 percent higher than in Switzerland, the country with the next-highest per capita health spending.
Other stakeholders are challenged by costs, too. Employers face constantly spiraling healthcare costs, as well as the challenges of trying to manage multiple, ever-changing benefits, coverage options and digital health solutions. So, making sure their employees understand and can utilize their multiple benefits efficiently is an important consideration.
What is a solution to keep healthcare costs down?
ZB: Looking at the big picture, the problems are systemic. Most health diagnoses require multifaceted coordination, and our healthcare system is simply not structured to deliver this effectively. Consumers (i.e., patients) get lost in the shuffle, costs and frustrations pile up, and outcomes suffer. Navigation offers a higher-level view that understands all the variables, connects the dots and pulls things together for the consumer.
The right navigation also requires a rich, technology-enabled model, combined with deep healthcare expertise to bring together all the “siloed” data from multiple stakeholders. The goal is simple: to have it work proactively on the consumer’s behalf by getting ahead of challenges and potential costs before they happen.
What is needed for successful connectivity across various stakeholders?
ZB: The right navigation solution has the breadth and depth to connect and synchronize all stakeholders. It must put the consumer first, working hand-in-hand with their providers every day to help solve challenges on their behalf. It must understand the consumer’s benefit ecosystem and integrate disparate, siloed solutions. Finally, it must be powered by deep technology and data insights to proactively drive the right actions at the right time.
This combination of data-driven expertise — one that stays ahead of potential problems —leads to better results, better clinical outcomes and reduced costs, both for the consumer and the sponsoring employer. Most importantly, consumers feel supported during their healthcare experience.
How can a navigation experience personally help someone on their healthcare journey?
ZB: Healthcare is personal. A navigation partner must understand and support the challenges consumers face — from the simple to the complex — and the ways they engage with their healthcare. Deep data insights play a crucial role for navigators to anticipate what consumers need. Whether they are visiting their doctor virtually or in person, managing their healthcare online or through multiple apps, navigation helps simplify the consumer’s experience, ensuring it is proactive, personalized and effective. All of this allows the consumer to focus on their health, which is the ultimate benefit.
What inspires you about navigation?
ZB: Every day at Quantum Health we receive stories from our members about how our navigation experience helped them on their healthcare journey. These stories inspire me to carry forward the vision our founder, Kara Trott, had for Quantum Health.
Quantum Health is unique. By putting consumers first, we help them through healthcare’s greatest complexities, leading the way to unmatched experiences, a return on investments, and most importantly — favorable health and financial outcomes. Learn more at quantum-health.com
