Becker's Hospital Review

45 45 CEO/STRATEGY 8 Healthcare Organizations Named Among 50 Most Community-Minded Companies By Tamara Rosin P oints of Light, the world's largest organization dedicat- ed to volunteer service, has announced its 2017 Civic 50 Honorees, including eight healthcare organizations. The annual Civic 50 list recognizes the 50 most communi- ty-minded companies in the U.S. each year as determined by an annual survey that measures a corporation's score against four dimensions: investment, integration, institu- tionalization and impact. Civic 50 winners are public and private companies with U.S. operations and revenues of $1 billion or more. Here are the eight healthcare organizations that won the award this year, listed in alphabetical order. • Abbvie (Chicago) • Aetna (Hartford, Conn.) • Baxter International (Deerfield, Ill.) • CVS Health (Woonsocket, R.I.) • Health Care Service Corporation (Chicago, Ill.) • Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (Tarrytown, N.Y.) • UnitedHealth Group (Minnetonka, Minn.) • WellCare Health Plans (Tampa, Fla.) n Patient or Consumer? 9 Thoughts on Healthcare Semantics By Brooke Murphy W hat should healthcare call the people who receive medical ser- vices — patients or consumers? And does it really matter? e debate around healthcare nomenclature is growing. Although to some the debate may seem like a pointless exercise in hair-splitting semantics, the terms "patient" and "consum- er" express very palpable differences and con- cerns about the future of healthcare. Here are nine thoughts on the patient versus consumer debate. 1. When people are ill or injured, they tend to view themselves as patients, like when someone awaits surgery from an inflamed appendix. When they are planning ahead for medical services, and compare the costs and benefits of providers on- line, people see themselves as consumers. 2. Some stakeholders argue the term "patient" connotes passivity. is is at odds with how pro- viders want patients to think about well-being and health management. Rather than passively receiving healthcare services, providers today want people to take charge of their health and become active participants in making health- care decisions. In many cases, this means being a savvy consumer, like when researching the cost and quality of healthcare services. 3. Other stakeholders believe the semantic debate boils down to a discussion of ethics — specifically, whether healthcare is a human right. "A patient deserves healthcare as right," Leana Wen, MD, wrote in Psychology Today. "But does a consumer? ... Using the language of [patients] being consumers could under- mine this fundamental tenet." 4. Generally, advocates for the term "consum- ers" see digital technology as the solution to many of healthcare's current problems, in- cluding access, costs and quality. 5. e digital age has increasingly shied control to the individual, who is no longer limited to the options or choices in front of them. If the grocery store closes at 9 p.m., a consumer can get online and order groceries to his or her doorstep at 10 p.m. 6. Similar to what has happened in retail, travel and finance, "consumer" advocates be- lieve once the digital tools for proactive en- gagement in healthcare — direct scheduling, telehealth, control of personal information — are broadly available, population health will improve and healthcare costs will decline. 7. at's not to say "patient" advocates don't support or believe in opportunities afforded by digital technology. Rather, some stakehold- ers — like physicians — are suspicious of the transactional "consumer" model, which treats healthcare services as commodities and deem- phasizes the physician-patient partnership. 8. "Physicians understand that healthcare is founded not only on expertise, but also on the capacity to build trust," Forbes report- ed. "ey recognize the power of the pa- tient-physician relationship and its positive impact on healing, on patient adherence to mutually agreed-upon therapies, and on im- proved clinical outcomes." 9. e debate over consumer versus patient is important and valuable because it asks phy- sicians and hospital leaders to think about both personalized care and digital technolo- gy. More oen than not, patients are both the receivers of care as well as its consumers. At the end of the day, it's up to the individual to decide — consumer or patient? n Some stakeholders argue the term "patient" connotes passivity. This is at odds with how providers want patients to think about well-being and health management.

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