What providers and marketers need to know about the digital patient journey in order to deliver differentiated experiences to stay competitive.
Consumer adoption of digital health tools is still growing.
The “healthcare from anywhere” movement that took off amid pandemic lockdowns is continuing unabated.
About half of US consumers use at least one health-monitoring tool.
About half of US consumers use at least one health-monitoring tool.
Those include wearable devices like an Apple Watch or Fitbit, as well as websites or apps that track weight, blood pressure, and mood. The share of consumers using these devices was 40.2% in November 2021.
Consumer behaviors won’t revert to their pre-pandemic ways.
About 86% of patients received care via telehealth at the same rate or more frequently in 2022 than in 2021, according to our US Digital Health Survey 2022, conducted in December. Additionally, one-third of adult wearable and health app users accessed those tools amid the pandemic more frequently than they did before, per a January 2023 Morning Consult report.
The number of available tools is helping to make digital health mainstream.
Health app developers rushed to market with new launches in the early days of the pandemic. More than 90,000 health apps—over 250 per day—were released in 2020 on top app stores worldwide, according to a July 2021 IQVIA report. Total available health apps now surpass 350,000, per IQVIA.
Expect to see smart speakers used for health in the future.
Roughly 40% of smart speaker owners would consider using the device to find a doctor, connect with a doctor, or get prescriptions refilled, per our survey.
Who is the healthcare tech user?
Consumer adoption of digital health products and services depends on factors such as income, location, and age.
Higher-income consumers are more likely to use health-monitoring tech.
Consumers making over $100,000 annually are almost twice as likely to use wearables or apps for health monitoring than those making less than $50,000, per a November 2022 PYMNTS and CareCredit report.
Patients who self-report their health status as “excellent” (62%) or “good” (46%) are the most common wearable owners.
According to Rock Health data published in February 2023, those who said their health is “poor” or “very poor” are far less likely to own wearables (20% and 23%, respectively).
Telehealth users are more likely to live in urban or suburban areas.
(56.6% and 56.2%, respectively), per survey. About 45% of rural respondents said they’ve used telehealth. While rural patients are good candidates for telehealth services, as they may not have nearby medical access, internet quality and availability may play a role in their lesser uptake.
Younger consumers gravitate toward digital health products, while older consumers prefer services.
Many more Gen Xers and baby boomers use health apps and telehealth services than wearables, according to our survey. Wearables were the least adopted tools used for health purposes, though half of millennials reported owning them.
Patients demand an omnichannel experience.
Providers can no longer rely exclusively on brick-and-mortar care delivery.
Digital products and services are now entrenched in consumers’ health journeys.
Of the patients who engaged in any healthcare activity in July 2022, 68.4% did so via a hybrid of patient portals, telehealth, apps, and traditional in-person visits, according to an August 2022 PYMNTS report. That far outweighs patients who received only in-person care (21.9%) and those who solely used digital health tools and services (9.7%).
Younger patients are more likely to use hybrid healthcare.
Gen Zers (66.4%) and millennials (62.7%) are much more likely than baby boomers/seniors (29.2%) and Gen Xers (38.9%) to use both digital and in-person healthcare channels, according to PYMNTS. However, while older consumers adopt technology at slower rates than younger ones, even they see the value of not being limited to just one way of accessing healthcare services.
In-person care is still preferred in many situations, like annual physicals.
Telehealth users are about four times more likely to choose in-person care over a hybrid of virtual and in-person care for emergency issues and annual physical exams, according to an August 2022 Deloitte report. Those preferential differences are far less pronounced when getting a chronic care checkup or discussing new symptoms.
The patient healthcare journey often starts online.
Providers must recognize how the internet can be both their friend and their foe.
Patients research medical conditions and symptoms prior to meeting with their doctor.
Google said about 7% of all searches worldwide—or over 1 billion per day—are related to healthcare. Younger consumers, in particular, are bringing the information they gather online to the doctor’s office. Twenty-nine percent of Gen Zers and 32% of millennials worldwide said they have asked their physician to prescribe them certain medications based on what they read online, per November 2022 Hall & Partners and Think Next findings, cited by MediaPost.
They collect information on doctors before deciding where to get care.
Some 56% of consumers—predominantly US-based—said they won’t consider a doctor who has less than a four-star rating, per a November 2022 survey from PatientPop.
Many still prefer calling to make an appointment over booking online, but the gap is narrowing.
About 41% of all consumers want to book visits online. Millennials (55%) feel the strongest about using digital self-scheduling instead of the phone, according to an August 2022 Kyruus survey.
Efficiency is a must.
The majority of patients said they’re at least somewhat interested in going online to confirm insurance coverage (90%), fill out previsit questionnaires (89%), and make payments (86%), per Kyruus’ survey.
Patients are using social media to find health information.
Digital natives are increasingly using social platforms for healthcare purposes.
Gen Zers are most likely to use social media for health-related information.
Half of Gen Z patients said they use social media either all the time or often to look up health accounts and medical-related information, per our survey. Meanwhile, just 24.0% of the broader sample said the same. Facebook is boomers’ social source for medical information, whereas Gen Zers’ top choice is Instagram.
Some patients will turn to influencers for medical advice.
Thirty-eight percent of patients with chronic conditions in the US, UK, China, Germany, and Japan do not use their doctor as a default source for medical advice, per the Hall & Partners/Think Next survey. They’re more likely to seek information from social media and influencers.
Doctors should consider building their social media presence.
Over 67% of consumers either have or would consider interacting with a healthcare professional by commenting on a post, tagging them, or direct messaging with them, data revealed.
Patients believe digital health tools lead to better health.
Some health technology devices and services aren’t just nice-to-haves for consumers.
Younger patients are especially bullish on digital health’s impact.
Still, a majority (59%) of consumers said that having access to virtual care services is very or somewhat important to their health, according to an April 2022 CVS Health survey. And 65% of all respondents said the same for being able to monitor their health with apps and wearable devices.
Nearly 40% of consumers said their physical health improved after using smartphones and wearable devices for health-related purposes.
Per an October 2022 Kantar report, respondents said that exercise apps (27%) and smartwatches (24%) had the greatest impact on their physical health.
Consumers want doctors to embrace digital health tools.
The omnichannel experience will need to incorporate physician analysis of personal health data.
Clinicians endorse digital health tools, but they don’t always trust the data.
Nearly a quarter of fitness tracker owners and over one-third of smartwatch owners said their device was recommended to them by a healthcare professional, per our research. Yet almost half of physicians don’t want to review their patients’ wearable data, according to a February 2022 report from SSCG MAP MD. Time constraints and clinicians’ general lack of faith in the quality of device-produced data are key factors.
Patients want providers to be more involved with them outside the doctor’s office.
Some 70% of US adults said they want local providers to be more involved with health management activities, like self-care through mobile apps and at-home diagnostics, per summer 2022 Kaufman Hall data.
Healthcare is falling short on delivering a quality digital experience.
Patients want faster and more frequent communications, but health providers haven’t kept up with digital transformation in the same way other industries have.
Nearly two-thirds of patients want to receive billing statements through digital channels, such as email or text.
But just 1 in 5 (19.2%) said their provider updated billing and payment options in the past year to include capabilities like e-statements and live chat support, per a fall 2022 Salucro Healthcare Solutions survey.
Consumers expect their online healthcare experiences to mirror those of sectors like retail and finance.
But only 22% of consumers believe the healthcare industry delivers a quality digital customer experience, compared with the 61% who said that about banking, according to a November 2022 Broadridge survey.
Providers are at risk of losing patients if they don’t go digital.
Doctors and medical networks are not only competing against other providers, but also retailers and tech companies.
Digital offerings can help increase patient loyalty.
Some 55.1% of patients said they may not return if a provider doesn’t offer online bill pay, per Salucro’s survey. And among consumers who want to book appointments online, half would switch to a provider that offers digital scheduling, Kyruus’ August 2022 survey revealed.
Newer care venues that offer omnichannel experiences are cutting into incumbents’ market share.
Retailers such as CVS and Walgreens, direct-to-consumer (D2C) startups, and Big Tech players like Amazon are increasingly becoming healthcare providers. Their pitch to patients? Being established, consumer-obsessed companies that recognize the value in simplifying the patient experience.
How can providers and marketers keep pace with the digital healthcare consumer?
Build out a digital front-door strategy with consumer-friendly services.
Such as self-scheduling, virtual visit options, consistent communication, and online bill pay.
Increase trust through online reviews.
Encourage patients to leave feedback on public physician review sites, and don’t ignore those who had a bad experience. Prospective patients will see that you are engaging and transparent.
Have an open mind about device-generated health data—it may have clinical value.
Having access to wearable and mobile app data that is updated daily could allow clinicians to intervene if a patient’s health declines. Additionally, more frequent communication can strengthen the patient-provider relationship.
Be active on social media.
Establishing a credible and engaging social media account could bring in new patients and help combat medical misinformation. Healthcare organizations will need to tailor social messaging to the generations they’re trying to reach while meeting them on their preferred platforms.
Keep up with AI trends.
Online search is still the best channel for healthcare marketers to reach patients who are looking for medical answers or services. But as digital voice assistants become more prevalent for addressing health-related inquiries, marketing strategies will need to go through another stage of digital transformation.
