While COVID-19 has greatly impacted how consumers access health care so far this year, the news of multiple vaccines on the horizon bring with them expectations that patients will return. Sapphire’s CEO, Kyle Raffaniello, recently spoke with roi-nj.com about how consumers will have new priorities post-pandemic when it comes to health care decisions.
As the 43% of consumers who have cancelled or delayed health care service in 2020 reenter the system, they will be doing it in a different way. Along with this, 47% are now more concerned about the cost of care than they were before.
“There’s many more concerns about costs now than in prior times,” she [Raffaniello] said. “You also have all these procedures that have been canceled or deferred this year, building this pent-up demand as the health care system shut down for other priorities. And people have had time to think about their options during that.”
With Sapphire’s transparency and incentive tools, health care consumers that use Smart Shopper are able to take advantage of price comparison features and shop for the best options for them and get rewarded while they do so.