Idea to retire: Patients as passive recipients of health care (José Esteves, Isabel Linares, Brookings)

Managing health care in today’s turbulent economic environment has become a critical issue for all health care stakeholders. Health care is facing the challenge of modernizing and at the same time economizing. The increasing dominance of economic reasoning in health care demands cost-containment and emphasizes self-responsibility, financial stakes, and participation of health care users. Under the logic of health care consumerism, the autonomy of patients has forced medical organizations to be more customer-focused. At the same time, health care consumers assume greater responsibility for their own health care and are being asked to make more decisions—and more complex decisions—than ever before.

http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/techtank/posts/2016/03/17-patients-as-passive-health-care-recipients-estevez-linares