A new report from Deliotte Health Solutions comes to the not-startling conclusion that patients. . .really want changes in the healthcare system.

From the executive summary:

. . .[M]any American consumers want more from their health care system than they're currently getting - including greater online connection to health care providers and medical records, customized insurance coverage and wider access to emerging innovations such as retail clinics.

 

At the same time, consumers express anxiety about future health care costs and increasingly search for alternative medicines and services that can save them money and offer convenience. But many also say they are willing to pay extra for wellness programs, and to support or consider tax increases to cover the uninsured.

Any surprises from the online survey of 3,000 Americans? A stated willingness to pay for wellness services.

Wellness is a part of every presidential candidate's plan, at least in their rhetoric. Specifics are few. But the fact that people appear to want wellness services so badly they're willing to pay is strong stuff candidates might want to listen to.

Also, despite their desire for change and more convenience, many patients said that they were wary of retail clinics--those small medical treatment centers you see in places like Wal-Mart, drug stores, grocery stores and more.

The Wall Street Journal Health Blog has a good item on the clinics. Sixteen percent of respondents strongly embrace the clinics, but a strong plurality remains skeptical.

If the clinic model succeeds, it's all about keeping the basic stuff like flu shots and ear infections out of the costly, complex, scheduling mess of usual medical care--leaving doctors free to deal with more complex matters for which their skills are necesssary--and, ideally, "whole patient" care.

Among the candidates, John McCain is the biggest supporter of using retail as a way to hold healthcare costs down.

From McCain's healthcare proposals that appear on his website: 

"Support innovative delivery systems, such as clinics in retail outlets and other ways that provide greater market flexibility in permitting appropriate roles for nurse practitioners, nurses, and doctors."