A Walmart greeter welcomes the customer, engages with him/her, and guides him/her in the right direction. A top health executive for a giant retail chain advocates that this is how health plans should operate (Osbourne, 2016). As health plans sit opportunistically in the middle of patients, doctors, and pharmacists, they’re in the perfect position to greet the patient and direct them in the right direction for optimal care. The future of diagnostics is in the form of self-help kiosks (ie: A1C, blood pressure, cholesterol, etc.). Patients want support in navigating the vast healthcare system of today. They want a concierge to help them go to in-network facilities, understand benefit changes, and help them save money. The current healthcare delivery system needs to be flipped on its head. Right now patients fight and get frustrated as they navigate the system. Reverse engineering the system could improve the patient’s experience.
Telehealth is another innovation that aids in care delivery. Tuckson believes telehealth will provide tons of value to the healthcare system (Tuckson, 2016). Unlike Osbourne, Tuckson believes telehealth is the concept that is positioned in the best spot in the health system to deliver the optimal value. However, there are some existing barriers in the telehealth industry like a lack of policy, too much regulation, and too much liability. Performance measurement and reimbursement based on telehealth is also non-existent. Creative ways, whether old-fashioned or technical, can greatly improve the delivery of care to patients.