Forrester Research: Forrester Retail Insights Healthcare First Look: Research & Event Highlights From Forrester

 23 April 2008
Did You Know?
Consumers with caregiving responsibilities are just as likely to be online as average US consumers -- despite being older and less affluent.


Where Can You Find Us?
Liz Boehm will present on aging and usability at Forrester's 2008 Financial Services Forum For Marketing And Strategy Professionals June 23-24 in New York.

Liz will speak on the new culture of wellness at TCBI's Fifth Annual Healthcare Unbound Conference & Exhibition July 7-8 in San Francisco.

Carl Doty will be on a panel titled "Health 2.0: The Opportunity and Potential Pitfalls" at AHIP Institute on June 19 in San Francisco.


Need An Expert Evaluation?
Forrester offers research-based reviews to evaluate your Web sites, interactive voice response (IVR) systems, kiosks, service emails, cross-channel experiences, or online brand presence.


Groundswell Is Out!
As social technologies spread through your customer base, are you ready to create sites and strategies to take advantage of them? The new book Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies from Forrester analysts Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff and published by Harvard Business Press lays out how companies can leverage social applications to accomplish business goals. Whether you're building communities, widgets, or Facebook pages, this book has ROI-based frameworks you can use. "This book will rock your world, if social technology hasn¿t rocked it already," says Scott Cook, founder of Intuit. Learn more about the book or try our cool data tool for more background on your customers' social profiles.


Caregivers Are As Likely To Be Online As Average US Consumers
Caregivers Are As Likely To Be Online As Average US Consumers

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First Look At Healthcare Consumers

The healthcare times they are a-changin' -- most notably from a largely fragmented, institution-based system toward a more consumer-controlled, market-based system. Are we there yet? Nope! But the recent fanfare-filled entry of power players like Google and Microsoft into the mix are turning up the heat on the policy and IT side. Meanwhile, on the consumer-facing front, the number of retail clinic visitors almost doubled in 2007 (albeit from a paltry 3% of US consumers). While the consumer revolution may still be in its infancy, we are seeing key changes in the healthcare landscape, including:

Building An Online Healthcare Community

  • Consumers are embracing Social Computing for health. Nearly one-quarter of commercially insured consumers have used online community health resources -- most commonly wikis and discussion boards. But don't jump on the healthcare community bandwagon before you give careful consideration to your business goals and user needs (Forrester's POST Method explains how). And be sure to take consumers' privacy concerns into account.

  • The individual insurance market is changing the rules. A few months ago, Forrester calculated that the uninsured market represents a $115 billion opportunity in the individual market. New research now shows that individual market members are easier to please but harder to keep than consumers who purchase through employers. This apparent contradiction suggests that, as consumers gain more purchasing control, health plans have to step up and offer them simpler products, better service, and clear value for their money.

  • Employers need to put incentives in their wellness plans. Employers are all about fostering greater individual responsibility in healthcare through cost shifting, disease management, and wellness programs. We'll be publishing a report next month that looks at consumer adoption of these programs, but suffice it to say that employers need to step up the incentives if they hope to achieve widespread adoption.

    We'll continue to track the evolving needs, preferences, and behaviors of healthcare consumers. In the meantime, we welcome your input and questions in the form of inquiries, briefings, and plain old gossip. Here's to your health!

    Regards,
    Liz Boehm
    Principal Analyst


    Research Referenced In This Issue

    Building An Online Healthcare Community (44721)
    Employers Embrace Wellness Management (44068)
    Employers' Disease And Wellness Management Sourcing And Incentive Strategies (44069)
    How To Use The Web To Attract And Retain Individual Health Plan Membership (45461)
    Objectives: The Key To Creating A Social Strategy (43656)
    Privacy Concerns Hinder Health Plan Web Site Growth (44992)
    Retail Health Clinics Increase Foothold And Influence Purchasing (45440)
    The $115 Billion Individual Health Insurance Opportunity (43626)
    Welcome To The Jungle: Google, Microsoft, And Revolution Tout Cures For Healthcare Maladies (45566)


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