Everything is Getting Faster, Including Health Care

In Robert Colville’s book released this summer, The Great Acceleration, he explains a variety of ways in which the world is getting faster and faster. It is a worthwhile read and certainly aligns with current demands across the health care system that service times accelerate.

Additionally, the election of Donald J. Trump as 45th President of the United States on November 9, 2016, and the alignment of Republican majorities or control in Congress with more than half of state legislatures and governorships, is likely to mean rapid changes to health care policy – striking while the iron is hot, so to speak.

Health care corporations are already focused on this trend of acceleration. For example, CVS Health (NYSE: CVS), the large pharmacy chain and pharmacy benefit manager, explained two very interesting acceleration trends in its 2016 third-quarter earnings. The first relates to its retail clinic business. CVS now operates more than 1,100 clinics in 33 states and Washington, D.C., including the retail clinics inside Target (NYSE: TGT) stores. Most news coverage about CVS Health’s earnings focused on the fact that they recently lost their position as a preferred pharmacy provider for some federal government clients. Also of note was that revenues are up nearly 25% for the retail clinic business from last year, and the “Hold My Place in Line” online queuing tool is used by 33% of CVS Health patients.

People might be sick, but they don’t have time to wait in line.

Second, CVS also mentioned the (so far) great customer ratings of its new Curbside Pickup service which was launched in 40 markets and 4,000 stores in September. The graphic below explains the effort.

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Source: CVS Health Curbside Pickup

Hopefully people aren’t using the Curbside Pickup app while they drive, but this is certainly meeting the customer where she or he is. If you don’t have time to park, CVS has got you covered.

Walgreens (NYSE: WBA) also made a big foray into speed this summer, announcing a partnership with Mental Health America and MDLive to improve access to mental health services via telehealth. Part of the effort is to help visitors to Walgreens’ website use free screening tools and surveys to determine their mental health status and whether they need additional help. Patients are able to use the online tools then receive referrals to the Mental Health Association website or click to an MDLive telehealth resource called Breakthrough that delivers therapy wherever you are.

The tagline? “Mental Health Therapy From Your Couch.” Or what New York Times bestselling author, Susan Shapiro, has called “Speed Shrinking.” (Shapiro’s Twitter description starts with “Instant-gratification-takes-too-long…”) Health care organizations that don’t keep up will lose customers, lose revenue, lose relevance.

Faster care. More convenience. Accelerated times to serve the (im)patient/customer. Everything is getting faster, including health care. Are you ready?