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BY TOM DWYER
COMMENTARY
The healthcare industry loves talking about "exchanges" these days. Ideally, these new marketplaces would be part of the Holy Grail solution of quality care at an affordable price. Initially, there will be no direct impact on physicians, but over time the "retail-ization" will have an effect.
Many people are skeptical about the ability of exchanges to influence either quality or price. In fact, we have many reasons to believe that the first few iterations of "public" state-based exchanges will actually increase price due to startup costs involved with establishing the very complex systems.
However, there is growing evidence that "private" healthcare exchanges will play a major role in the coming years. For simplicity, I am defining a "private" exchange as anything that is not a "public" exchange. Examples of a private exchange include Medicare online exchanges, such as ExtendHealth; small group purchasing exchanges, such as HealthPass New York; large group exchanges, such as AonHewitt; or even individual exchanges, such as eHealth.
The role of these exchanges will be to facilitate the ultimate "retail-ization" of healthcare. The retail customer will be the actual individual -- not an employer -- buying health insurance directly from the insurer via an exchange. The purchaser/patient will have a much more 'retail' experience, shop and compare; he will seek value as he defines it.
This 'retail-ization' of healthcare will find its way into the physician's office, as well. When the end user of the service is paying for the service, he will demand more value from all vendors of that service, including doctors. Physician offices will become more aware of patient retention rates customer satisfaction programs that the retail world is accustomed to.
My company, Dwyer Healthcare Group, has been talking to the people who are opening up this new private exchange world and leading the retailization of healthcare. They are new technology companies with robust "shop and compare" tools and benefits consultants that really understand healthcare products. And there are the more traditional third party administrator (TPA) companies that do transactions really well. Each type of company will launch their own flavor of private exchange solution.
Everyone in the healthcare industry will soon be interfacing with private exchanges and feeling the effects of the retailization of healthcare. Recognizing the trends will be important to your strategy of working in this new marketplace.
Tom Dwyer is the founder of the Manasquan, NJ-based Dwyer Healthcare Group, comprised of leaders in leaders in healthcare and health reform. He has 20 years’ experience in healthcare and insurance including C-level roles and has been at the forefront of health reform and loves working with entrepreneurial companies. Contact Tom at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
