Patients worldwide are frustrated with healthcare

The news: Consumers in six major economies—China, Japan, Germany, Sweden, the UK, and the US—want more streamlined, connected, and patient-focused healthcare experiences, per the Future of Healthcare report from ZS, a consulting firm.

• 9,517 adults took the online survey conducted by The Harris Poll for ZS between July and September 2022.
• 1,003 licensed medical doctors with specialties in family, general, or internal medicine also took the poll.

Nobody does it better (or worse): The US healthcare system is notorious for its best and worst rankings.

• It ranks first for expenditure, but last for coverage, per the latest rankings from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in November 2022.

But there’s plenty of patient dissatisfaction to go around. And doctors may be oblivious to it.

• 46% of China’s consumers said they felt cared for when interacting with the healthcare system.
• That’s much lower than the 87% of China’s doctors who said their patients felt cared for after a visit.
• 42% of US adults felt cared for, but 79% of doctors in the US said their patients felt cared for, post-visit.
• Germany’s patients were the least satisfied. Just 19% felt cared for, even though 56% of doctors thought their patients were cared for.

Actions speak louder than words: Inconvenience and cost of care are global concerns. But even in countries with national health systems, patients avoided regular visits and screenings.

• Many patients are skipping regular screenings. This is especially true for adults in Sweden (71%), UK (68%), Germany (67%), and Japan (66%). China and the US were tied with 45% of adults skipping screenings.
• Getting sick was the most compelling reason to see a doctor for consumers in the UK (78%), Sweden (75%), and Germany (69%). Half (50%) of adults in China and Japan only saw a doctor when they were sick, compared with 44% in the US.
• The hassle of accessing care wasn’t a major barrier in any country but was highest in the UK (33%), Germany (28%), and Sweden (27%). The US, China (each 24%) and Japan (23%) weren’t far behind.
• Cost was a bigger factor in the US and China (each 24%), followed by Japan (21%), Germany (20%), Sweden (16%), and the UK (13%).

Our take: No country has a perfect system, as far as patients are concerned. Even when governments provide healthcare at reduced or no cost, people opt out of getting regular care and wait until they are sick to seek care.

Improving the patient care journey is paramount for providers who are trying to manage the cost of a population’s care as well as preventing higher rates of costly chronic conditions.

This article originally appeared in Insider Intelligence's Digital Health Briefing—a daily recap of top stories reshaping the healthcare industry. Subscribe to have more hard-hitting takeaways delivered to your inbox daily.

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