Survey sheds light on global consumer perceptions of health IT

The recently unveiled Cisco Global Customer Experience Report shed some light on both consumer and health care decision makers’ (HCDMs) views on health IT and the patient experience.

The early 2013 survey reached 1,547 consumers and HCDMs across 10 countries, who weighed in on sharing personal health data using IT tools, inperson versus remote medical consultations, and harnessing technology to disseminate health advice.

Among the findings: 70 percent of patients felt comfortable communicating with doctors through texting, email or video instead of seeing them face-to-face. Of those:

• 19 percent preferred a video chat consultation with a doctor;
• 20 percent preferred an online consultation via instant message with a doctor;
• 21 percent preferred an email consultation with a doctor; and
• 23 percent preferred a telephone consultation with a doctor.

Other key findings include: nearly 80 percent of North American consumers feel comfortable submitting a complete medical history and diagnostic information to improve their care and about 40 percent of consumers are willing to receive recommendations about doctors, hospitals and medications automatically through their computers or mobile devices. 

When it comes to privacy, some disparities came to the surface. For example, healthcare practitioners were more willing to share personal and private information than patients. Openness to sharing personal health information through health IT tools varied by geography. For instance, while most expressed comfort in storing their health records on the cloud, people in Germany and Japan were not warm to this. Also:

• Nearly half of consumers and two thirds of HCDMs said they are comfortable sharing and receiving health information through social media channels.
• About 50 percent of HCDMs believe data protection is sufficient to protect health and medical data privacy in their respective countries, but fewer consumers agree. In the U.S., close to 60 percent of HCDMs expressed confidence in data security compared to 40 percent of consumers.

• In China, Russia and Mexico, nearly three quarters of consumers said they would communicate with a specialist using virtual technology regarding a health condition.

Other survey findings:

• While most consumers with healthcare apps on their mobile devices reported that their apps relate to healthy eating and exercise, 25 percent indicate they are for chronic disease management.
• Nearly 25 percent of consumers who use healthcare apps said they receive health-related reminders.