Carol.com suffers setback

One of our favorite healthcare innovations has taken a hit. The Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reported today that the online healthcare shopping site will lay off 25% of its workforce, or about 25 people. The article also says the company will “transition into a consulting firm, helping health providers retool their own web sites to list services and prices” (though our sources say that’s an overstatement, and that the focus on online care shopping will remain). Either way, the move is a set-back for a company that was trying to empower consumers with another way to choose care.

Does this mean the concept of online care shopping was a bad one? Not from where we sit. As we suggested back in February in our blog, the idea behind Carol.com might simply be ahead of its time. In September, Minneapolis/St. Paul Star Tribune reporter Chen May Yee noted in an article that the company had hoped to sell 200 care packages a month, but had only sold a total of 160 since its launch 8 months earlier. The company is working against decades of healthcare conditioning. Consumers with traditional insurance have been protected from the true cost of care, and they’re satisfied to follow their doctor’s orders and not think about the financial implications of their choices. With consumer-driven plans growing in use, more and more patients are being forced to consider pricing, but changing behavior is still a long, slow slog. I often use my own situation to prove the point. I have a $5,700 deductible for my three children before any coverage kicks in, and it’s safe to assume I’m as educated as a consumer can be about my options, the way the system works and what to look for in a provider. But I still don’t instinctively look to shop for care when something happens to one of my kids. I’m trying to change how I approach care choices, but it’s not easy. Trying to convince thousands of patients in a market to follow that path is a tall order. Here’s hoping Carol.com can hang on until the rest of us catch up.