Salesforce recently published a survey of U.S. adults to gain insight into their communications with providers and preferences on telemedicine, wearable devices and post-discharge care. Of those surveyed, 85 percent had health insurance and a primary care physician, and virtual care treatment options were of interest.
The 2016 Connected Patient Report not only looks at the population as a whole, but also compares the responses for baby boomers, Generation X and millennials. Is it surprising that the younger generations are more open to using wearable health devices and sharing their health data with doctors and insurance companies than older adults?
When it comes to virtual care services, millennials are leading the way and communicating with their providers or a nurse via webcam, instant messaging, text, apps, emails and even phone calls. This points to a huge shift in the way healthcare is delivered and consumed as both millennial providers and their patients age. Also supporting this shift is that 62 percent of all those surveyed are open to virtual care treatment options for nonurgent matters; and that includes 57 percent of baby boomers.
Other striking data includes:
- 70 percent of millennials would choose a primary care doctor who offers a patient app (allowing them to make appointments, see bills, view health data, etc.) over one who does not.
- Baby boomers are the most satisfied with their primary care doctor (94 percent), while millennials seem to be more likely to change doctors (60 percent). The latter is in part because they moved, but also because of inconvenient locations (16 percent), poor bedside manner (10 percent) and costs (10 percent).
- Of those who use who own wearable devices, 78 percent want their doctor to have access to their health data so they can see trends in their data in order to diagnose a condition before it becomes serious or terminal.
- 67 percent of millennials are willing to use a wearable tracking devices given to them by their insurance company in exchange for better rates.
When it comes to hospitalized respondents (26 percent), 54 percent visited two or more healthcare professionals after their discharge, and 10 percent visited five or more.
These patients and their family members believe improvements need to be made to the post-discharge processes (61 percent), including better communication among the care team (38 percent) and technology to manage their health data across the various providers (27 percent). They also would like to see easier scheduling for follow-up visits (24 percent) and better discharge/follow-up care instructions (22 percent).
For healthcare providers and leaders, this data reinforces the need to create effective strategies around mobile and virtual health. While everyone is concerned about the privacy of their health data, it seems younger adults — especially millennials — are willing to balance their privacy with more convenience and lower costs.
