DIY Healthcare
While Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Healthcare may not be new, it is expanding and offering ways to disrupt the current healthcare delivery model. It is important for healthcare leaders and providers to understand the commercial options available to their patients.
By embracing the trend and viewing it as a way to empower patients while alleviating costs and the strain placed on an ever-contracting physician market, healthcare leaders may not only realize cost savings but also brand loyalty and patient engagement. Retail merchants have been quick to jump aboard the bandwagon by offering an increasing number of diagnostic self-tests marketed to the public for at-home consumption. In addition, they are expanding into new markets like smoking cessation, blood pressure monitoring, diabetic care, chronic illnesses monitoring and perhaps soon, at-home diagnosing tests for strep, influenza and other illnesses.
Over 87% of consumers have at least one digital healthcare device already, whether that’s a Fitbit, Apple watch or at-home AI assistant, which can make data collection and storage easier, immediate, and less reliant on a patient’s not-so tenable memory. Programmers are creating open-source software to monitor one’s health in an affordable manner. Some of the more frequently used programs relate to diabetic monitoring and while they are not regulated, they are growing in acceptance by the populace.
Retailers are creating wearables that are moving from simple watches to smart textiles and implantable sensors to further collect and store data. While retailers are working to make these items affordable, patients are finding this to be a creative solution to finance their healthcare and ensure that their money is paying for value.
“Self-tracking is useful because medical solutions that fit the majority do not fit everyone” according to Anne Wright, the leader of the Body Track project. “Self-tracking is also helpful for finding the cause of a certain condition that a diagnosis does not reveal. Taking an action based on our own experience can be more powerful than doing it on your doctor’s recommendation.” So powerful that 8 in 10 Americans look for their health information on the internet before seeing or to determine if they should see their primary care physician.
The pitfalls in this emerging healthcare range from the misinterpretation of at-home results, self-misdiagnosis, and failure to seek the appropriate treatment or treatment at all. Since at-home tests are especially attractive for the low-income and the elderly who may seek out this type of resource first, physician involvement is key. Without professional explanations regarding test risks and benefits, how to properly conduct testing and interpretation of the results in the context of the whole clinical picture, DIY healthcare can pose a risk to patients rather than an inexpensive fix.
Due to the risks promoting at-home testing can pose to a physician coupled with the conflicts it creates in professional responsibility, accountability and consultation length, a recent study of general practitioners' perspectives revealed a valuing of increased patient involvement and control as related to chronic disease self-management but it was not viewed as a priority. It falls to leadership to change these factors by weighing the advantages of one long consultation instead of multiple short visits and creating new paradigms where procedural safety can be found in increasing a patient’s involvement in their own care so practitioners prioritize the patient-physician partnership.
It is important for healthcare leaders and their medical staff to be aware of the available self-care options for their patients to answer questions and advise their patients appropriately. Care providers must adapt to consultation patterns with patients who are proactive and informed, as well as patients who are unable or unwilling to take a more active role. Increasing emphasis on supporting self-care may help resolve some of the short-comings of DIY healthcare concerns as well as address the increasing interest from the public in technological healthcare solutions.