If patients aren’t proactively using technology to manage their health, they at least appear ready to incorporate technology—especially mobile communications technologies—into their health behavior, according to a new survey from Microsoft.
Conducted by Kelton Research, the Microsoft Health Engagement Survey 2009 draws on input from 1,002 Americans, ages 18 and up, and finds that consumers want electronic coaching via e-mail and telephone to help them improve health habits, self-manage conditions and to better coordinate care with providers.
Specifically, the report claims 66 percent of Americans are interested in receiving health-related encouragement or reminder e-mails from their health insurance companies, and 52 percent would be open to receiving e-mails that provide them with feedback on their health progress. Additionally, 62 percent of Americans think personal health record services are valuable.
Unfortunately, 55 percent of respondents feel the healthcare system is fragmented when it comes to helping people manage their health. Those who feel this way are far more likely to rely on general health Web sites for information, rather than doctors or health advisory hotlines that insurers offer (25 percent, versus 18 percent of those who feel the system is seamless).
Although insurers have made strides in recent years to add self-help tools and other improvements to their Web sites, 49 percent of insured Americans still believe their health plans only support them when they need to visit a doctor, instead of helping them to stay well. Of consumers who did access insurers' Web sites, 49 percent used them primarily to locate a provider and 48 percent were looking for coverage information.
Nevertheless, as Healthcare IT News reports, almost four in five Americans (77 percent) find the idea of technology helping to solve their healthcare needs as "inviting," rather than "intimidating." While they prefer e-mail (66 percent) and the telephone (57 percent) as the best channels to communicate with their insurers, some also are open to text messaging (10 percent), instant messaging (7 percent) and videoconferencing (4 percent).
The news is encouraging for those with an eye on the MPOC space—as any mobility-based collaboration among patients, providers and insurers that helps control the runaway rate of medical costs would be—but it may be more than that, too.
For example, Chad Pomeroy, vice president for Innovation and eBusiness at WellPoint Inc., the nation's largest health benefits company, says: "This research is a wake-up call to the health insurance industry to start untethering much of the online tools and services they've tied to stand-alone member self-service portals and weave them into the consumer's daily digital world."
While we wait to see what emerges from collaborations between WellPoint, Microsoft and others, we also should gauge the teamwork developing among providers, patients, and public and private payers as they join forces to improve health and outcomes at the individual and community levels.
HealthcareGoesMobile.com wants to know your take on the Microsoft Health Engagement Survey 2009. Does the data fall in line with expectations? Is your organization currently involved in collaboration efforts aimed at leveraging mobile communications technologies to help health consumers better access their healthcare information to make more informed decisions?
John Farrell participates in HealthcareGoesMobile.com as a community correspondent through Intel’s paid sponsorship with MedTech Publishing Company.
