I was asked by Fard Johnmar to add my thoughts on consumer-driven healthcare from my social marketing perspective to his series on the topic at his blog Envisioning 2.0.

Consumer-driven healthcare is a strategy that is starting to take hold as a way of changing the costs and incentives for healthcare consumers.  Instead of insurance companies making all the decisions about how people will receive their healthcare, individuals are given more power to decide how their medical dollars will be used.  This reintroduces competition into the pricing and services, and makes it more likely that people will use their healthcare budget efficiently and in a way that makes sense for their own situation.

While I don't often write about health policy issues here, social marketing has a definite role to play in helping healthcare consumers make decisions that are informed and appropriate.  After you read my short take on the topic, take a look at what Dmitriy Kruglyak of The Medical Blog Network and Amy Tenderich of the blog Diabetes Mine have to say on the subject.

If this trend keeps growing, consumers will absolutely need some help navigating all of the healthcare products and options that will increasingly be marketed directly to them.  As social marketers, we can offer an objective take on what is quality and what is quackery to assist consumers in their decisionmaking.


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