Driving for a Better Way to Engage Consumers in their Own Health

the principle that members of each generation would contribute enough to Medicare while they were working to pay for their care after age 65.”

So as a nation, where are we on this consumer engagement thing and what do we have to do to change the clinical and financial death spiral on which we have put ourselves?

To contribute to the discourse on this question, Psilos Group (the healthcare investment firm I co-founded with Steve Krupa, Al Waxman, Joe Riley, and Dave Eichler), is today publishing our findings and predictions about the healthcare industry’s evolution. The Psilos 2012 Outlook on Healthcare Economics and Innovation has a specific focus on how consumers are engaging in their own health and healthcare. The report explores the changing landscape of consumer behavior, as well as what factors might amplify consumers’ willingness to take positive action to increase their own health.

Here are some key highlights of our fourth annual Psilos Outlook, including the results of a consumer survey conducted to further explore these questions:

When asked if they have become more concerned and/or involved in their own healthcare over the last 12 months, 30.1 percent of respondents stated affirmatively that they have become more engaged. For many people, engagement translates into taking direct action: They have started a new exercise regime; begun to diet; or complied with doctors’ orders to take prescribed medications.

Not surprisingly, the survey found that illness was the number one reason why consumers became more engaged in their healthcare (nothing like being sick to make you think about your health). Almost 22 percent of respondents stated that they became more concerned and

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4

Author: Lisa Suennen

Lisa Suennen is a managing director with GE Ventures and former managing member of the Psilos Group, as well as the co-author of Tech Tonics: Can Passionate Entrepreneurs Heal Healthcare With Technology? and author of the blog Venture Valkyrie. Prior to 2014, Lisa was a Senior Advisor to Psilos Group, a healthcare-focused venture capital and growth equity firm that focuses on the healthcare information technology, healthcare services and medical device sectors. Lisa was a co-founder of Psilos Group and a Partner at the firm from 1998-2014. Prior to Psilos, Lisa was at Merit Behavioral Care (formerly American Biodyne, Inc), an $800mm behavioral healthcare company where she held various senior executive roles from its early start-up days through exit. Previously, Lisa held various positions in marketing and product management in companies in the high technology field. Lisa was a Board Member of the Dignity Health Foundation, and Board Member of health IT company Beyond Lucid Technologies and is still a Board Member of medical device company AngioScore, a member of the Qualcomm Life Advisory Board, and an Advisor to the California Health Care Foundation Innovation Fund. Lisa also previously served as an Advisor to innovation consulting firm Accelevate, Inc. as a member of the Advisory Board of the U.S. Health and Human Services Office of the National Coordinator Investing in Innovations program. Lisa holds an M.A. in political science, a B.A. in political science and a B.A. in mass communications, all from the University of California, Berkeley, where she is now Vice Chair of the National Advisory Council of the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University. Lisa is also a visiting lecturer at the U.C. Berkeley Haas School of Business where she teaches the annual course on healthcare venture capital. Lisa also writes a widely read blog on healthcare and healthcare investing at www.venturevalkyrie.com. She has recently published her first book, entitled: Tech Tonics, Can Passionate Entrepreneurs Heal Healthcare with Technology, coauthored with Dr. David Shaywitz.