Dive Brief:
- Despite advances in patient engagement tools and online portals, doctor-patient communication remains largely one-sided, according to Salesforce’s 2017 Connected Patient Report.
- 80% of Americans schedule appointments via telephone, and 60% rely on their doctors to keep track of health records, the company says. While 29% of patients report using the self-service portal of their doctor or insurer, a roughly equal number (28%) store health records in files or other places at home, the company said in a blog Wednesday.
- When it comes to finding providers, the survey of 2000 adults — conducted by the Harris Poll and released Wednesday — showed millennials are three times as likely as baby boomers to turn to their insurers. Overall, three in four Americans said they expect payers to use digital tools like instant messaging and two-way video to communicate with them.
Dive Insight:
With the shift to more patient-centric care, providers are turning to digital solutions that increase patient engagement, improve health outcomes and increase access to care in rural and underserved areas. New reimbursement models that aim to raise care quality while reducing costs also make one-on-one conversations increasingly cost-prohibitive.
The challenge, Devin Gross, CEO of Emmi Solutions, told Healthcare Dive recently is to figure how to “look at technology as a vehicle to some extent mimic that patient-provider relationship in a way that creates this emotional connection and empowers the patient with the information they need to be active participants in their care.”
According to the Salesforce report, Americans also want more engagement with drug companies. Roughly three in five respondents — and 70% of millennials — want the ability to leverage video conferencing and other virtual support services with their medication’s manufacturer. Meanwhile, 83% of adults—and 88% of millennials—said they would provide feedback to drugmakers on their experience to help improve future treatments.
On artificial intelligence, one of the hottest topics in healthcare right now, enthusiasm split along generational lines with 63% of millennials saying they’d use a digital assistant to support healthy behaviors, versus just 28% of baby boomers. While both groups worried about AI producing a wrong diagnosis, baby boomers were more likely to fear an incorrect result at 74%, compared with 60% of millennials.