The COVID-19 pandemic has upended the patient-provider dynamic, with one core area of concerning being the important care that patients have pushed back. New research from consultancy EY-Parthenon found that 55 percent of surveyed patients have delayed or avoided medical care.
As the pandemic surges throughout the U.S. and flu season begins, patients who believe providers’ offices are virus hotspots may continue delaying non-urgent care, the researchers concluded. EY-Parthenon surveyed 1,400 consumers across the U.S. to understand patients’ sentiment on healthcare post-pandemic, and has outlined ways for healthcare providers to respond to these patient concerns.
Of those 55 percent, the highest percentage (12 percent) said they are avoiding or delaying the family medicine specialty, followed by care from allergists, dermatologists and audiologists. And 5 percent said they are even pausing their appointments with cardiologists. Almost 70 percent of this care would have taken place in a doctor’s office, rather than a hospital or urgent-care clinic.
To that end, a recent study published in JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics found that cancer patient encounters fell precipitously in January to April 2020 compared to the same months in 2019, with some cancer screenings falling by almost 90 percent.
The dramatic decrease in elective care not only negatively impacts providers’ bottom lines, but may preclude non-COVID-19 patients from seeking preventative care – with life-threatening results, according to the researchers. Some other key findings from the report include:
- Almost 90 percent of those who have delayed care plan to seek care post-COVID-19
- Approximately 50 to 60 percent of people are not adjusting spend on healthcare visits and medication, respectively; Medicaid patients are most likely to adjust spend
- 17 percent of people reported using telehealth before the pandemic, whole 30 percent have used it since the onset of the crisis
- Patients top concerns with emergency rooms during the pandemic are overcrowding/long wait times, and contracting the virus from other patients
- People are more likely to prefer telehealth over in‑person visits for virtual waiting rooms, follow-up appointments and urgent matters
- People are most interested in telehealth options for allergy and audiology health conditions, and are less interested in telehealth options for dermatology
Where are patients getting their information and who do they trust most? The research shows that local and national news organizations are the leading sources of information, with state governments rounding out the top three. And respondents living in urban areas feel more informed than their counterparts in suburban or rural areas. When it comes to trust, consumers tend to hold their primary care physicians and hospitals/health systems in the highest regard, along with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
What would convince these consumers to return sooner rather than later, with questions surrounding just when exactly the pandemic will end? Presented with 10 options, they saw the most reassurance in regular COVID-19 testing for all doctors and staff, as well as virtual or telehealth options for their treatment needs. They also wanted the number of patients allowed in a facility to be strictly limited at any given time for enforced social distancing.
The researchers note that providers are operating from a position of trust and should use that trust to the advantage of patients, as well as themselves—but they have to be the messengers. By addressing patients’ top concerns, providers should be able to provide the comfort for resuming non-urgent care. This is not just vital to drive strong financial performance in the sector: if ignored for too long, non-urgent care can become urgent, as well as more costly, invasive and even dangerous, they stated.
The responses around delayed spending—around 25 to 30 percent of the survey population—show the extent to which this a concern. “Providers must make that case to consumers and articulate how pandemic risks are mitigated instead of omnipresent in the health care environment, thanks to a new precautions in operations,” the researchers said.
The good news is that nine of 10 patients said they will resume care they have been delaying once the pandemic gets less severe. The older the respondent, the more likely they said they will take a more active role in their overall wellness after the pandemic. More than two-thirds of consumers who are aged 65 and over said they are extremely or very likely to do so. This desire is less prevalent among younger groups — about half of those aged 26 to 35, for instance.
In the end, according to the researchers, the results show that more people intend to take wellness into their own hands: a greater desire to self-manage their care, coupled with growing tech savviness, particularly among the population over age 65. “This is an inflection point and opportunity for providers, who are trusted more than any other source of information about the pandemic, and can instill behaviors to benefit both patients and themselves."
