Consumers are not Patient(s)

Medicine 2.0

For many years Canadians considered the relationship with their physician as fundamentally different from the relationship they had with other professionals. Indeed, Canadians, like people in most other countries, use a special word - "patient" - to characterize their role in the relationship. This situation is changing, however, with people taking a more active role in looking after their health and treating physicians with less deference than they did in the past. The emergence of the healthcare consumer is not only driving a new class of eHealth applications (sometimes referred to as Personal eHealth or Consumer eHealth applications) but will also have a profound impact on the nature of the applications as well as the choices that individuals make regarding the organizations that offer these applications. In looking after their health and engaging healthcare providers, individuals will alternately act as either a patient or a consumer. In each role individuals will think and act differently and may consequently have a need for a different type of personal eHealth application. While the distinction between patient and consumer may seem somewhat arbitrary and perhaps even artificial, it does help explain why new healthcare intermediaries such as revolution.com, WebMD, and Microsoft are entering the market. As well, this distinction also helps to more easily identify opportunities for healthcare providers to use information and communications technologies to engage their patients. This presentation examines the differences between consumer and patient and explores how these differences must be considered in the design of personal eHealth applications.