PwC: Consumers ready for telehealth, self-diagnosis; doctors not so much

Most consumers are ready for nontraditional healthcare delivery, according to research from PricewaterhouseCoopers' Health Research Institute.

The survey of 1,000 consumers and 1,500 clinicians offers insight into use of emerging tools and technology in healthcare.

A total of 80 percent of consumers said they were open to looking beyond traditional doctor visits for care; 60 percent said they were open to a virtual doctor visit; 50 percent said they would use a do-it-yourself diagnostic test; and 31 percent said they were interested in monitoring their vital signs with a wearable device.

Primary care providers, however, are less open to these newer technologies. More than two-thirds (68 percent) said they are not doing anything differently in response to the changing market and just 18 percent said they plan to provide certain new services, including virtual technology.

The report calls Hispanics “consumer mavericks” because they are the most engaged in mobile health technology, with 14 percent reporting the use of mobile health technology to monitor or diagnose a health condition, compared with 5 percent of the general population. In addition, 31 percent of Hispanic consumers reported using mobile health technology to make appointments, compared with 5 percent of the general population.

“Primary care needs to shift from its traditional role of ‘gatekeeper’ to an array of specialties and instead become a more engaged, central part of the system,” Kelly Barnes, U.S. health industries leader at PwC, said in a release. “This change is being driven by the demands for greater value, consumer need for convenience and changing health demographics.”