• behaviour
• patient involvement
• research

There is little doubt that healthcare systems need to be transformed to keep up with the various challenges of variable budgets, growth of chronic diseases, shortfall of staff, the rise of digital services, changes in patient expectations, and disease outbreaks. In fact, a recent survey shows that 90% of healthcare leaders believe the recent pandemic will necessitate a review of the fundamentals of how healthcare is designed, run, and delivered.1 The pandemic has also renewed calls for a transformation of healthcare systems to make them more people-centred – which has been a top-priority for the NHS for several years.2

While the concept of patient and public involvement in healthcare is not new, it has gained substantial traction in the last few years. This sentiment has been echoed by institutions that work with healthcare institutions—e.g., consulting firms like McKinsey & Co.,3 academic researchers,4 and intergovernmental agencies such as the WHO.5 Transforming systems to make them people-centred ranges from having health literacy programmes for patients and families, introducing new policies and work routines for providers, and introducing new technologies in health systems.5 These reforms often require people to participate as partners in organisational transformation, evaluation, and redesign of care provided.6 Dealing with such a wide scope of factors and including such diverse stakeholders requires healthcare leaders to have a comprehensive understanding of the attitudes and behaviours of all parties involved in the value chain.

However, healthcare leaders face a key challenge: uncovering the preferences and choices of people is not a straightforward endeavour. People base their decisions of adopting or utilising a product or service on multiple criteria. They evaluate and trade off various aspects of these offerings to make these decisions. In addition, people are heterogenous, not always rational in their choices, and differ …