If governments want to make their citizens happy, they'd invest less in technologies to improve health outcomes and more in communication tools.
That seems to be one of the conclusions suggested by a new global study from Accenture. The main finding -- citizens in most of the 16 countries surveyed prioritize balance in access and engagement in decision-making over real improvements in health outcomes.
In only two countries (Brazil and Ireland) did citizens say that improving health outcomes should be a top government priority. Instead, citizens from most countries believe the government's role should be focused on "balance" – providing fair and equal access to health services for everyone, but especially the elderly and disabled.
That finding surprised Julie McQueen of The Accenture Institute for Health and Public Service Value.
"I thought surely everybody is concerned about health outcomes," McQueen said. "But I think the fact that balance is rated as most important reflects peoples' concern for access to healthcare for themselves and their families."
After balance, the study suggests that governments can better serve their populations by opening up participatory opportunities. Across the board, respondents said government isn’t doing enough to engage them and seek their input before deciding on the priorities for healthcare services. Respondents in 10 of the 16 countries view this as an area where government is performing least well, with just 21 percent of respondents, on average, rating government performance as very or fairly good.
"Governments must do more in enabling people to play a role in helping shape the policies and programs to achieve access," said Greg Parston, director of Accenture's Institute for Health and Public Service Value. "We’ve seen consistently in our research that citizens want to be co-producers of public value."
McQueen said the study did not directly address investments in healthcare information technology, such as those made in the United Kingdom over the last decade, or those included in last year's U.S. stimulus package, and she was reticent to read any support or lack of support into the findings.
However, given the high level of interest in participating in policy decisions, combined with a perception that government isn't doing enough to enable participation, shifting investment from systems that produce outcomes to systems that enhance decision-making is a logical consequence.
The study surveyed more than 16,000 people of the general adult population in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Singapore, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. Participants were interviewed between December 2009 and February 2010.
Accenture officials say preliminary reporting has focused on "big picture" issues, but say more analysis will be released in coming days and weeks and available on the Web.
