LONG BEACH, CALIF. As baby boomers bulge the ranks of the nation's elderly population, physicians are going to have to adapt to meet their expectations, Dr. Alfredo Czerwinski said at a conference on leadership and management in geriatrics.
Coming from a world in which they can get a latte in 20 seconds, lunch in less than a minute, and an oil change in 45 minutes (or it's free), they're not going to like hearing that they won't be able to see a doctor for 3 days or 3 weeks, said Dr. Czerwinski, chief medical officer for Lawson & Associates, a consulting firm in Sacramento, Calif. Same-day scheduling and cohesive, integrated care of chronic conditions will become necessities he predicted at the meeting, presented by SCAN Health Plan.
Dr. Czerwinski reflected on how times have changed since Marcus Welby, M.D., made house calls and saw one grateful patient per episode. These days, patients' trust and confidence in their physicians, which are considered "the traditional hallmarks of care, are at an all-time low."
Research shows that patients will switch doctors if it will save them $10 per month on their insurance plans. To meet the demand of tomorrow's medical consumers, physicians would do well to develop clinical acumen and surgical skills. But they'll be more likely to achieve business success if they think like business people, according to Dr. Czerwinski. Physicians need to look around at what baby boomers enjoy and expect from other businesses:
▸ If they have to wait, cappuccino and free wireless access would be nice.
▸ They're used to booking appointments on the Web.
▸ They appreciate valet parking, and as they lose their ability to drive, they're going to be more likely to choose the physician who subscribes to a transportation service.
▸ They want immediate access to their physicians and expect e-mail contact.