Digital-Era Millennials Using New Tools to Select Doctors, Stay Informed, and Shop for Care, Including Selecting Clinical Pathology Laboratories

Dec 9, 2015 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing, Managed Care Contracts & Payer Reimbursement, Management & Operations

Medical laboratories can get ahead of the trend by developing processes for serving younger healthcare consumers in different ways

Experts say that Millennials are rewriting the rules of healthcare. Rather than following in baby boomers’ footsteps, this new generation of young adults shops for healthcare in ways that may change the provider-patient relationship for all providers, including pathologists and medical laboratories.

Also known as Gen Y, this generation interacts with healthcare providers differently than earlier generations in at least three basic ways:

1. When seeking medical advice, they first turn to websites;
2. They prefer to ask friends for physician referrals; and,
3. They are not shy about requesting discounts from providers to cut their medical costs.

Different Approaches to Choosing Doctors and Communicating Concerns

A recent survey by Nuance Communications showed how baby boomers and millennials are taking different approaches to their healthcare. It starts with how they choose their primary care physician. (more…)