Healthcare Industry Congress 2025: PATIENTS BECOME CONSUMERS
Montag, 14. Juli 2025
Patients must not merely be consumers. False expectations and economic thinking jeopardize the quality of treatment. Trust, rather than a service relationship, is crucial for health. A plea for a new approach to communication in healthcare!
Vignette
Generated adaptation of the carpet at the Health Business Congress in the Grand Élysée in Hamburg.
But only if we make it so.
I was invited to participate in a panel discussion at the award ceremony of the Journalism Prize by the Health Foundation. The topic: PATIENTS ALSO BECOME CONSUMERS: COMMUNICATION CREATES KNOWLEDGE AND TRANSPARENCY.
I would like to share my opinion on this in advance – both in this blog and in the compendium. Even though the 20th Health Economics Congress 2025 has chosen this title for a panel discussion, I do not see it as an inevitable development. Instead, I will argue against the mindset of immediatism.
Why immediatism is problematic in healthcare:
When patients become consumers, unrealistic expectations arise for medical treatments
The "want-it-all-now" attitude does not fit the reality of thorough diagnoses and sustainable therapies
Medical decisions are distorted by economic thinking
The quality of care declines when speed and convenience become more important than good medicine
Healthcare operates differently from sales-oriented markets. People are particularly vulnerable in situations of illness and need protection from the mechanisms of the consumer world. The relationship between doctors and patients should be based on trust, not merely on a service relationship.
In this regard, I advocate for new care communication.
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