Consumer-Directed Healthcare Opportunity for Financial Services Firms

"Consumers and employers can expect a lot of innovation from healthcare companies and financial services firms," predicted Aamer Baig, partner and co- lead of Diamond's Financial Services Practice. "Those innovations might include powerful tools for families to manage their retirement and healthcare finances, quickly confirming insurance coverage before making a doctor's appointment, collecting information about treatment alternatives specific to each consumer's situation, and then paying for service from a special account before leaving the clinic."

"Some of these opportunities offer companies a chance to repurpose their existing assets while other opportunities will require them to reconsider the boundaries of their current organization or even rethink their entire business model," Baig said. "But with five-year revenue potential in the billions, banks, health plans, and technology infrastructure providers can't afford to ignore the possibilities." For consumers and employers health/wealth innovations may be a means to curb skyrocketing healthcare costs, better manage the spending and saving of healthcare dollars, and even improve the quality of care. At minimum, tighter integration between the processes of paying for and receiving medical care should make it easier to navigate an increasingly complex U.S. healthcare system. In a new report, Diamond identifies and values seven specific consumer and employer needs that will generate an aggregate $40 billion worth of demand for new products and services over the next five years. A complete copy of the report, "Seismic Shifts in the Health/Wealth Landscape" is available upon request by sending an email to health/wealthconvergence@diamondconsultants.com.