Insider’s View on the Direction of Consumerism and Consumer Driven Plans

By Clive Riddle, April 9, 2009

The Eighth Annual Consumer Driven Web Summit was held a few weeks ago, which included a survey of the professional attendees on a couple of key questions regarding the direction of consumerism and consumer driven plans.

What is the industry insiders’ view the main components of consumerism? Last year and this year they were asked to rank five components according to the value of the component from their perspective:

• Account Based Plans (HSA/HRA/FSA)
• Price and Quality Transparency
• Retail Medicine (Convenient Care, etc)
• Web Based Consumer Patient Health Records
• Wellness Incentive Programs

Price and Quality Transparency continues to be ranked far in front of the five components being rated, and Wellness Incentive Programs continue to be ranked second. The mean score improved for Wellness Incentive Programs and for Retail Medicine, while the mean scores declined for the other three components:

Respondents were asked to rank each component 1 through 5, with 1 = highest value and 5=lowest value, and only use each ranking once; i.e. only rate one item a 1, one item a 2, etc.

Here’s the results for the past two years:

	2009	2008	2009	2009
	Mean	Mean	Median	Mode
Price and Quality Transparency	2.00	1.83	1	1
Account Based Plans (HSA/HRA/FSA)	3.08	2.97	3	2
Wellness Incentive Programs	2.65	2.86	3	3
Web Based Consumer Patient Health Records	3.70	3.63	4	4
Retail Medicine (Convenient Care, etc)	3.57	3.71	4	5

It’s interesting to see that web based consumer patient health records aren’t prioritized a little higher, given their priority in policy circles and elsewhere. It’s also interesting to see account based plans lose ground. Many pundits have already pronounced the decline and fall of the account based plan, given the direction that the Democratic congress, Obama administration, and influential policy organizations have taken.

But not so fast. Insiders seem to feel what a number of recent surveys have shown, that employer interest in account based plans in rising as a tool to address cost related issues in this economic meltdown.

Respondents were asked to predict enrollment change for such plans. Here’s how they answered: “As a result of the Recession, will Consumer Driven Plan enrollment/ market share (compared to traditional managed care plan designs):”

· Increase significantly 26.4%

· Increase somewhat 42.5%

· Not materially change 14.9%

· Decrease somewhat 11.5%

· Decrease significantly 4.6%

Thus 66.9% felt enrollment would increase as a result of the recession, while 16.1% felt enrollment would decrease.

As health care reform takes shape over the next months (or years), the economy will undoubtedly weigh large in the discussions. The pundit’s reported death of consumer driven plans may prove to be premature.