Key Points
- When used correctly, the benefits of telemedicine outweigh the risks.
- Misinformation spreads easily – where you get your info and from whom makes a huge difference in healthcare.
- When you make a life-saving drug inaccessible due to economics, you’re basically saying “pay me or die.”.
Dr. Stan Schwartz joins Quantros’ Lindsey Klein for a discussion about lasting impacts of COVID-19 on the healthcare industry.
On this episode of Healthcare Analytics Decoded, a Quantros podcast, Quantros’ Lindsey Klein was joined by Dr. Stan Schwartz, noted healthcare consultant, President and CEO of WellOK, the Northeastern Oklahoma Business Coalition on Health, and Chief Medical Officer for The Zero Card, Inc.
The Zero Card is a digital health company that connects self-funded employers to providers willing to provide bundled services, providing a healthcare model that’s easier to understand, simpler to use and avoids the typical mountains of paperwork and bills that make navigating care difficult.
Schwartz labeled the COVID-19 pandemic as a “once in a century” learning experience due to its near “perfect storm” of disruptive factors, such as the rapidity with which it spreads and the lack of a vaccine or treatment.
Schwartz also said that the pandemic could continue fraying the already weakening bonds between patients and consistent primary care physicians, migrate the healthcare system away from being hospital-centric, and raise the volume on the conversation regarding lower cost or free care, which is already being implemented for coronavirus-related care.
Klein and Schwartz said the way forward, then, is increased transparency in healthcare for patients that could reduce the overwhelming nature of information regarding their treatment and care.
Solutions like those provided by Quantros could help patients better define “quality,” finding surgeons and physicians that are truly the best option for their treatment and care.
“Reputation is one thing, but, as we say at The Zero Card, ‘We trust grandma, but everyone else must bring data,” Schwartz said.
Ways to Listen – Healthcare Analytics Decoded
