Dr. House once famously smirked at his asthma patient who sadly, albeit creatively misused her inhaler, a scene that created in my mind anyway a true snapshot of accountability gone wrong. Results from our 7-year study of consumer attitudes about accountability are featured this week. Given the rising cost of healthcare, aging demographics, and increase in coinsurance, how we the consumer think and behave and ‘influence’ one another will become more and more important – not just to our own health, but the health of our kids, grandkids, and to those charged with our healthcare, physicians, nurses, pharmacists, health plans, hospitals, surgery centers and policymakers.
In the last 7 years, we’ve tracked the attitudes of more than 500 consumers about healthcare accountability – and when comparing views in 2009 to today, you get a fascinating snapshot of the changing face of accountability.
