Future Trends: Self care, wellness shift to drive innovation in new, emerging health segments

No matter where you stand with regard to Obamacare or the American Health Care Act that Congress is debating even now, one factor is certain: The cost of health care — and the consumer’s share of that cost — is only going to grow.

“At the beginning of his administration, President Trump and his leaders in health care put out five principles for healthcare reform,” Mike Tarino, principal at Tiltas Solutions, shared with attendees at a recent Nicholas Hall conference. “For our industry, the most important statement is the [one concerning tax credits] and health savings accounts. The indication here is that the administration is interested in moving control of the financial resources more toward consumers.”

That will contribute to more OTC purchases for two reasons. First, self care is inherently less expensive and more convenient than any treatment provided by a primary care team. Second, preventive care will help reduce those out-of-pocket expenditures even more. “In the next 12 to 18 months, given the current climate of health care, you’re going to see more services in the retail landscape,” Brian Owens, director of retail insights at Kantar Retail, told Drug Store News. And both cost and convenience will figure prominently for consumers, he said. “I see lower-income shoppers, specifically, running to [retail] health clinics to get lower-cost solutions versus going to urgent care [or] primary care.”

This shifting of the cost burden already has sparked a new way of approaching health care, from seeking acute sick-care solutions to more of an ongoing wellness lifestyle mindset. As consumers, payers and the government all rethink what health will look like in this country, and as retailers and their supplier partners innovate new ways to deliver on that wellness promise, expect some new, emerging OTC segments.

“From the consumer standpoint, health care is happening wherever people want to access it, increasingly outside the traditional legacy healthcare system,” Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, health economist for Think Health, told DSN. “The retail pharmacy can become a hub for health and health care in the community. I would forecast expanding switch and categories for more self care options. Consumers want that, and this particular FDA … would point to expanding categories and more options.”

Many of those segments are emerging now. Both the Food and Drug Administration and Congress are working toward creating a nonprescription hearing aid category. As more Americans realize the number of health conditions tied to better sleep, that category is evolving from the simple sale of sleep aids to the presentation of a holistic sleep solution. The trend of consumers who have grown hungry for greater transparency and “cleaner” labels as they shop for food are looking for the same in their medicines, creating a demand for more natural OTCs.

“For more than one-third of Americans, food is now seen as a better medicine than [traditional] medicine,” noted Larry Levin, EVP of consumer and shopper marketing and thought leadership at IRI. “Do drug stores need to think about assorting more food and beverage products that play into health and wellness? [Because] it’s not just about OTC and that competitive framework, it’s much wider. OTC manufacturers need to realize that their competitive set is much wider than the tunnel they play in now.”

“[Food] is the area consumers really want to deal with the most,” Sarasohn-Kahn said. “Nobody really wants to take medicine. People would rather project-manage health through food as prescription. From a public policy standpoint, we’re seeing more Medicaid programs that coordinate with SNAP benefits at the state level, cooperating with farmer’s markets and grocery programs to expand benefits.”

As more U.S. couples decide to pursue a family later in life, that’s creating additional fertility challenges and the need for wellness solutions throughout the entire pregnancy process, from preconception through delivery. And the whole self-care movement is creating greater awareness around disease prevention, a factor that feeds the opportunity for more vaccination services provided at retail pharmacy.

“There are still large, untapped opportunities within the retail setting,” said Patrick Spear, president and CEO of GMDC. “We see this as an opportunity to drive this legacy, upstream healthcare mindset to last-mile retail,” he said. “[There are] a lot of opportunities to design new category management systems for retailers based on care transition.”