“Healthcare consumers are the key stakeholders in patient-centered and patient-driven care.” (National Academies Press (US), 2010). Consumer stakeholders are the individuals that receive care or services in healthcare. Without people to deliver care too, there would be no healthcare to deliver.
Consumer’s interests are quality, cost, and coverage of care. They provide an insight into what the community is looking for in healthcare. Consumers want efficient care, at low cost, and loyal providers that will listen and really care about them.
Consumers influence healthcare policies when they make decisions on healthcare policies, services deliveries, values, and consistency. Consumers are also voters, they are the ones that ultimately chose what policies are to be used by voting in policymakers, such as house representatives, senators, and the president. By voting for
these individuals, consumers are providing an insight into what policies they’re in agreement with.
My role as a stakeholder is also a consumer, the patient. I get to choose my healthcare policies when I vote and pick where I get my care from. My interest in healthcare is quality. I want the care I receive to be genuine, to be treated with respect and heard. I want my care to be the top priority of a facility and provider. I don’t want money to be the factor that someone showed up or someone misses a sign/symptom in my care or just wanting to treat the sign and symptom verses finding out what is causing the issues. I want the policies to be backed on morals and values.
References
National Academies Press (US). (2010). Consumers-Directed Policies. The Healthcare Imperative - NCBI Bookshelf. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK53912/#:~:text=Healthcare%20consumers
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