The Connected Patient

How are Americans managing their health and communicating with their providers? Or maybe the question should be how do they want to be conducting their healthcare affairs? I found The “2015 State of the Connected Patient” (Salesforce 2015) report to be quite interesting. It covers patient trends in financial communication, appointment setting and health education. The report is based on a survey of 1,700 insured adults who have a primary care physician. Some quick highlights:

• Mobile apps and mobile device use for healthcare continues to trend high, especially among Millennials
• 21% of patients review their health data from their provider via the Web
• More health data such as lab results is being shared via email notifications and electronic health records
• 74% of Millennials want to book appointments online and pay their bills online

This isn’t surprising when you consider 65 million online households own a smartphone. Also consider that the average household spends more than 2 hours outside of work conducting personal business.

The Connected Patient is one who desires interactive services. They tend to be tech-savvy and choices matter to them – they like multiple communication methods. Is your office evolving to meet the desires of today’s Connected Patient?
 

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