Evolution of Healthcare in USA: From Passive Care to Active Patient Engagement

Published on Sep 12, 2023

Updated on Mar 20, 2024

Imagine walking into a bustling hospital several decades ago. You’d probably feel like just another face in the crowd, a number on a chart, waiting for your turn to see a busy doctor. There’s no denying that, back then, healthcare was all about treatment. The personal touch, understanding, and overall patient experience took a back seat. But as the years rolled on, a transformation was brewing. Today’s healthcare paints a very different picture, and this article aims to journey through that evolution, showcasing how healthcare in the U.S. has shifted from passive care to a deeply engaging, patient-centric approach.

What was Passive Care?

At its core, passive care was a one-way street. Patients came in, got treated, and left. Little room existed for understanding their experiences, emotions, or concerns. Here’s a closer look:

It was all “Number” mentality. Patients often felt they were just numbers in a system. Personal stories and individual concerns? They often got lost amidst the rush to move on to the next patient.

Very limited channels for feedback. If you had a suggestion or a concern, where would you go? Back in the day, feedback mechanisms were few and far between. This meant patients had little say in shaping their own care experiences.

However, things started to change gradually until the year 1999 brought with it a jolt. The Institute of Medicine unveiled a report that estimated a staggering 44,000 to 98,000 people die annually in hospitals from preventable medical errors. It was more than a statistic; it was a clear sign that the system needed change.

As we entered the 21st century, a wind of change began to blow through the corridors of hospitals and clinics across the U.S. What sparked this shift?

Digital Information Wave

The internet changed the game. Suddenly, patients weren’t solely relying on doctors for medical information.

A 2013 Pew Research study found that 72% of internet users sought health information online. This was a significant shift, one that empowered patients to ask questions and demand better care.

Think about the last time you visited a coffee shop or booked a hotel. Chances are, you experienced personalized service. Other sectors were setting the bar high for customer experience, and healthcare couldn’t stay behind.

With platforms like online forums, reviews, and patient communities, individual stories and experiences started echoing louder than ever before. A poor hospital review could now reach thousands, urging institutions to listen and adapt.

Transitioning to Active Engagement

With the foundation laid, healthcare began its transformative journey:

If there’s one thing that streamlined healthcare, it’s technology. Electronic Health Records (EHRs) became pivotal. From being a novelty in 2008, the adoption rate for EHRs in U.S. hospitals jumped to an impressive 96% by 2017. It was clear that healthcare was turning a new leaf, one that was digital and efficient.
With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, another trend gained momentum – telemedicine. The convenience of consulting a doctor from one’s living room became not just preferred but essential.
A report from the CDC highlighted a 154% surge in telehealth visits during March 2020 compared to the previous year. It’s undeniable; that healthcare was evolving rapidly, focusing more on patient comfort and safety.

As we navigate through this narrative, it’s clear that the push for change in healthcare wasn’t just internal. External factors, technological advancements, and the rise of patient voices played a massive role in redefining the healthcare experience in the U.S.

Pillars of Modern Healthcare Engagement

As the healthcare landscape shifted, certain principles started standing out as beacons of modern patient care:

Tailored to You: Today, healthcare isn’t just about one-size-fits-all solutions.
Genomic Medicine: Imagine treatments crafted based on your unique genetic blueprint. This isn’t sci-fi; it’s happening now. Genomic medicine is revolutionizing how ailments are treated, ensuring that care is personalized and effective.
Feedback Loop: Hospitals today aren’t just places of healing; they’re learning institutions.
Patient Surveys & Feedback Systems: Clinics and hospitals actively seek out feedback, using it as a tool to continuously evolve and better their services.
Wellness Beyond Medicine: The definition of health has expanded. It’s not just about curing ailments but fostering overall well-being.
Mental and Emotional Health: More than ever, there’s an emphasis on addressing mental health concerns and emotional well-being alongside physical health. A holistic approach is at the forefront.

In U.S. healthcare, the emphasis on customer experience has grown significantly, underscoring the vital role tech companies play in developing digital tools to enhance this experience.

A survey conducted shows that 72% of patients would like to have access to a patient portal, and 64% would like to use a mobile app to manage their health.

We have a vivid example of Manipal Hospital’s mHealth app developed by Mantra Labs. It’s a self-service healthcare mobile application that enables users to – book appointments (OPD, Lab tests, home collection), buy health packages, track health improvement reports, and self-check-in to avoid hospital queues.

Looking back, it’s truly remarkable to trace the journey of the U.S. healthcare system. From crowded waiting rooms where patients were mere numbers to a contemporary era where every individual’s health story is heard and valued—it’s a testament to the resilience and adaptability of the sector. As we move forward, with technological advancements on one hand and a commitment to patient-centric care on the other, the future of healthcare in the U.S. is not just bright—it’s luminous.

The progression from past to present-day healthcare showcases the incredible strides made in patient care, all geared towards creating an ecosystem where every patient feels valued, heard, and cared for.

Let’s take a trip back in time—2008. Netflix was nothing like the media juggernaut it is today. Back then, they were a DVD-rental-by-mail service trying to go digital. But here’s the kicker: they hit a major pitfall. The internet was booming, and people were binge-watching shows like never before, but Netflix’s infrastructure couldn’t handle the load. Their single, massive system—what techies call a “monolith”—was creaking under pressure. Slow load times and buffering wheels plagued the experience, a nightmare for any platform or app development company trying to scale

That’s when Netflix decided to do something wild—they broke their monolith into smaller pieces. It was microservices, the tech equivalent of turning one giant pizza into bite-sized slices. Instead of one colossal system doing everything from streaming to recommendations, each piece of Netflix’s architecture became a specialist—one service handled streaming, another handled recommendations, another managed user data, and so on.

But microservices alone weren’t enough. What if one slice of pizza burns? Would the rest of the meal be ruined? Netflix wasn’t about to let a burnt crust take down the whole operation. That’s when they introduced the Circuit Breaker Pattern—just like a home electrical circuit that prevents a total blackout when one fuse blows. Their famous Hystrix tool allowed services to fail without taking down the entire platform.

Fast-forward to today: Netflix isn’t just serving you movie marathons, it’s a digital powerhouse, an icon in platform engineering; it’s deploying new code thousands of times per day without breaking a sweat. They handle 208 million subscribers streaming over 1 billion hours of content every week. Trends in Platform engineering transformed Netflix into an application dev platform with self-service capabilities, supporting app developers and fostering a culture of continuous deployment.

Did Netflix bring order to chaos?

Netflix didn’t just solve its own problem. They blazed the trail for a movement: platform engineering. Now, every company wants a piece of that action. What Netflix did was essentially build an internal platform that developers could innovate without dealing with infrastructure headaches, a dream scenario for any application developer or app development company seeking seamless workflows.

And it’s not just for the big players like Netflix anymore. Across industries, companies are using platform engineering to create Internal Developer Platforms (IDPs)—one-stop shops for mobile application developers to create, test, and deploy apps without waiting on traditional IT. According to Gartner, 80% of organizations will adopt platform engineering by 2025 because it makes everything faster and more efficient, a game-changer for any mobile app developer or development software firm.

All anybody has to do is to make sure the tools are actually connected and working together. To make the most of it. That’s where modern trends like self-service platforms and composable architectures come in. You build, you scale, you innovate.achieving what mobile app dev and web-based development needs And all without breaking a sweat.

Is Mantra Labs Redefining Platform Engineering?

We didn’t just learn from Netflix’s playbook; we’re writing our own chapters in platform engineering. One example of this? Our work with one of India’s leading private-sector general insurance companies.

Their existing DevOps system was like Netflix’s old monolith: complex, clunky, and slowing them down. Multiple teams, diverse workflows, and a lack of standardization were crippling their ability to innovate. Worse yet, they were stuck in a ticket-driven approach, which led to reactive fixes rather than proactive growth. Observability gaps meant they were often solving the wrong problems, without any real insight into what was happening under the hood.

That’s where Mantra Labs stepped in. Mantra Labs brought in the pillars of platform engineering:

Standardization: We unified their workflows, creating a single source of truth for teams across the board.

Customization: Our tailored platform engineering approach addressed the unique demands of their various application development teams.

Traceability: With better observability tools, they could now track their workflows, giving them real-time insights into system health and potential bottlenecks—an essential feature for web and app development and agile software development.

We didn’t just slap a band-aid on the problem; we overhauled their entire infrastructure. By centralizing infrastructure management and removing the ticket-driven chaos, we gave them a self-service platform—where teams could deploy new code without waiting in line. The results? Faster workflows, better adoption of tools, and an infrastructure ready for future growth.

But we didn’t stop there. We solved the critical observability gaps—providing real-time data that helped the insurance giant avoid potential pitfalls before they happened. With our approach, they no longer had to “hope” that things would go right. They could see it happening in real-time which is a major advantage in cross-platform mobile application development and cloud-based web hosting.

The Future of Platform Engineering: What’s Next?

As we look forward, platform engineering will continue to drive innovation, enabling companies to build scalable, resilient systems that adapt to future challenges—whether it’s AI-driven automation or self-healing platforms.

If you’re ready to make the leap into platform engineering, Mantra Labs is here to guide you. Whether you’re aiming for smoother workflows, enhanced observability, or scalable infrastructure, we’ve got the tools and expertise to get you there.

Evolution of Healthcare in USA: From Passive Care to Active Patient Engagement