Woefully few Americans have digital access to care

Healthcare falls behind virtually every other aspect of Americans' lives when it comes to digitization with the majority of U.S. adults unaware of and unable to access technology they could use to communicate with their doctors. 

Those are the findings of a Nielson survey from the Council of Accountable Physician Practices and the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) that polled more than 5,000 Americans ages 18 and over about attitudes and use of technology to inform, access and manage their medical care.

Less than half (45 percent) receive even the traditional telephone appointment reminders and only 21 percent have access to online appointment scheduling with their doctors.

Fifteen percent use email to communicate with their provider and 14 percent have 24/7 access to medical advice. Nine percent receive reminders by text and just 3 percent are able to send a photo of a medical condition over email. Two percent have access to video visits.

“Healthcare providers must step up our adoption of these common-sense and available solutions if we are truly going to reform healthcare delivery,” said Robert Pearl, MD, chairman of the Council of Accountable Physician Practices and CEO of The Permanente Medical Group and the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group. 

The survey highlighted four consumer groups who were most interested in gaining greater access to their doctors through digital and electronic technology: parents with children covered under their health plans, chronically ill patients, patients with acute conditions, and adults under 35 years of age.

The data also showed that consumers who don’t currently have access to their providers through electronic or digital communications are most interested in ready access and online interactions: 36 percent preferred traditional telephone-based medical advice, while 34 and 36 percent, respectively, expressed interest in one-way engagement such as online appointment scheduling and online portals to access test results.

“These findings emphasize how few patients and providers are actually using the technologies that we use in most other aspects of our daily lives,” said Janet Marchibroda, director of health innovation at BPC. “A lack of appropriate incentives as well as regulatory and legislative barriers have prevented many healthcare providers from implementing these technologies. Yet as healthcare organizations are increasingly responsible for improving the health of large populations, they must rely more on efficient, technology-driven patient-physician relationships to achieve performance goals. That means society must create incentives that facilitate adoption of these tools and technologies.”

Some technologies showed wider gaps between usage and interest than others among the people surveyed: 36 percent of adults were interested in a 24/7 telephone line for medical advice, yet only 14 percent had used such a tool; 28 percent were interested in text appointment reminders, yet only 9 percent had used them; and 26 percent were interested in submitting photos of conditions in preparation for phone or email consultations, yet only 3 percent had used such tools. Additionally, “virtual care” innovations, such as telemedicine, were found to be almost completely inaccessible to the average patient.

The gaps between usage and interest levels may be an awareness issue, pointed out Jennifer Colamonico, vice president of Healthcare Insights and Chair at Strategic Health Perspectives, Nielsen Consumer Insights North America. "Consumers who expressed low interest levels in certain technologies may actually have limited awareness of available tools and the possible beneficial impact these applications may have. If consumers aren’t familiar with all the options, or cannot imagine how those options could enhance their healthcare experience, they place little value in such options. But consumer education can increase demand for and usage of these tools.”