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Imagine a future in which the healthcare systems provide consumers with high-quality care in a variety of appropriate forms at attractive and competitive prices. In this vision, insurers, employers, and governments will offer consumer’s financial incentives to take better care of themselves; to exercise, eat right, stop smoking and follow treatment cycles for major problems such as asthma and diabetes. This system will encourage consumers to plan for the healthcare needs that they can anticipate (i.e., no emergencies) by “shopping” for products and services much as they do for any other commodity; consumers will make informed decisions based on readily available reports on quality, service, and price. Providers and product manufacturers will compete for different segments of the market using a variety of networks, formats, and business models and strategies. And besides this, consumers confused by the plethora of offerings can turn up to agents, who help them design the most suitable health-care schemes for themselves and their entire family. Future Is Now: Such a robust retail healthcare market is more than just a vision; it is a real possibility and entirely applicable. In today’s date there is the example of U.S. healthcare industry, which is the result of visionaries to improve the complete healthcare arena by decades of good intentions and willingness to face unintended consequences. Payers (defined as government and employers, who foot the bill for most health-care costs) and patient’s struggle equally to cope with the intricacy and cost. However most efforts to control rising costs by government and by the private sector have proven non amalgamative, unsustainable and have inadvertently somewhere increased the overall complexity. Recently Walmart, U.S.A.’s largest retailer and biggest private employer, now wants and plans to dominate a growing part of the healthcare market. It proposes to offer a varied range of medical services right from basic prevention to management of chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease. The Megacorp aims at becoming the nation’s largest provider of primary healthcare services. Analysts say that ‘Walmart’ is positioning itself to increase current store traffic, possibly by expanding the number of services offered by its in-store medical health center. This move would also capitalize on growing demand for primary care in future. Due to this millions of Americans are expected to have government or private health insurance. Walmart supported the vision by stating “We have a massive primary care problem that will be made worse by health reform and anyone who has a plausible idea on how to solve this should be allowed to step inn.”In-store medical clinics, offered by Walmart and other retailers, could be key in the effort towards healthcare regulations; by encouraging collaborations of doctors and hospitals who want to win financial rewards for restructuring care and lowering costs. Such collaborations, known as “accountable care organizations,” will eventually contract with in-store medical treatment center. Future Empowering: Companies today have extended to offer services beyond simple tests and vaccinations, such as helping monitor patients with diabetes or high blood pressure with an increased focus towards incorporating cutting-edge technology. Recent findings show that amenities provided by an organization have become the new competitive factor in procuring patients. In this new age of patient centered care, amenities like a hotel style room, alternative care and upscale meal service have become the determining factors in ensuring a particular standard given to a Healthcare organization. These amenities are suggested to have a better patient health outcome. Looking at the progressive and constantly evolving advancements in the Healthcare Industry, it is safe to say that we, humans are on the brink of the precipice to empower the future of highly advanced, convenient and accessible Healthcare services.
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Healthcare Retailing, Healthcare organization, Future Empowering, healthcare systems, healthcare services,
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