Governance in a Consumer-Centric Health Care Ecosystem
By Bipin Thomas
Imagine a health care consumer who dictates his or her own health goals, tracks progress with a wearable medical device or two and who consults provider and social media contacts for advice about interventions, side effects and choices affecting his or her health that could be rewarded financially via insurance policy incentives.
The new mantra of Britain’s National Health Service illustrates the centrality of the consumer in the emerging health care environment: for consumers, there will be “no decision about me without me.”1 This paradigm requires a new expertise and accountability from patients, health care organizations and physicians as health care delivery becomes more personalized.