The era of the digital health consumer/patient

Accenture’s Pat Power considers what patients expect from a digital health service and how providers are effectively meeting the challenges involved in providing new services.

If I can manage my finances, my shopping, my entertainment and my travel online why can’t I take similar ownership of my healthcare? For today’s digitally empowered consumers, this is a valid question.

Healthcare has lagged significantly behind other industries in using technology to enable the development of new and innovative delivery models to satisfy the changing demands and expectations of the digital consumer. However, globally, this is changing. Technological innovation is driving significant ‘disruption’ to the traditional health delivery models around the world, resulting in very significant benefits to health outcomes for patients and national health services.

Historically there has been an under-investment of technology enabled transformation of our health services in Ireland. However, with the publication of the Ireland eHealth Strategy (2013), the National Digital Strategy for Ireland (2013) and the recent Public Service ICT Strategy, the framework has now been set for Ireland to allow us ‘leapfrog’ into the digital era and use technology as a key lever in delivering a safe, high-quality, patient-centred health system that delivers the integrated healthcare experience demanded. In doing so, we should look to harness the opportunities presented by digital technologies to help alleviate healthcare delivery challenges and empower consumers to take a more proactive role in managing and controlling their health and healthcare needs. It is critical therefore that our transformed health services are designed with this ‘always-on’ consumer in mind.

Self-service
So what does today’s ‘always-on’ digital consumer want? A growing number of consumers want access to real-time ‘self-service’ solutions that allow them to take an active role in their own healthcare. For example, two-thirds of the over 10,000 adults polled by Accenture agreed that having access to health data is a patient’s right. Roughly half wanted online access to their health record, including the physician’s notes, lab work and prescription history.

Consumers also favour self-management. The same survey found nearly three-fourths of consumers believe using technology for self-management will actually improve the quality of care they receive. At a basic level, this includes access to medical data, communication tools and self-services but it could also include many more sophisticated uses, such as remote monitoring and telehealth platforms.

Right now, few consumers enjoy such services from providers, according to a new survey by Accenture of 2,600 doctors in six countries. Despite consumer demand, the survey found that relatively few doctors provide online services for patients to self-schedule appointments (37 per cent), request prescription refills (34 per cent), access their medical information (27 per cent) or view test results on a secure website (19 per cent). In some countries, the gap between demand and what healthcare providers are prepared to give them is especially wide. In Norway, for example, very few (5 per cent) physicians allow patients to download an electronic summary of their medical records.

Why do so many healthcare providers seem to be on the wrong side of the digital debate? The safety of patient data, regulatory and legal constraints, patient safety, costs and a lack of understanding of the potential of digital technologies are frequently cited as reasons. Convincing healthcare providers, policy-makers and budget-setters that technology can meet the demands of both providers and patients will be crucial to delivering a digitally enabled healthcare service in Ireland.

Meeting demand
A few providers and nationwide health services, however, are taking a different view. They have recognised that the benefits of empowering patients electronically outweigh the risks; that far from endangering data privacy and safety, giving people electronic access to their medical records can induce them to take better care of themselves, deepen their understanding of both prevention and cure, and make them more motivated to participate in treatment programmes.

Consider, for example, the results of the OpenNotes initiative in the United States, in which 105 primary care doctors at three major health centres invited more than 19,000 of their patients to read their visit notes online.

Before the onset of the yearlong trial, some doctors feared that granting such access would disrupt their workflow or worse, perhaps even damaging their relationship with patients by confusing, worrying or offending them. In fact, however, quite the opposite occurred. For most doctors involved, email traffic during the trial did not increase but, most importantly, many reported strengthened relationships with patients, as roughly 80 per cent reported they had gained a better understanding of their health and medical conditions. The majority of patients also said they were taking greater care of themselves. Perhaps most tellingly, 99 per cent of them wanted the OpenNotes programme to continue. Participating doctors were less enthusiastic. Between 17 per cent and 26 per cent of them preferred not to continue – though when offered the chance to stop, none did.
Technology is also offering opportunities for much greater collaboration between healthcare organisations and the digitally enabled consumer in jointly managing the consumer’s health. For example, by integrating with a number of other medical and fitness devices, the Apple Healthkit can provide a ‘dashboard’ of fitness and health data – including weight, heart rate, calories burned, blood pressure, blood sugar etc. – empowering users to monitor vital signs. In one example, a leading US health system integrated the Apple Healthkit with its own medical records, providing a significantly enhanced dataset to support clinical and medical decision-making.

There are also some very good emerging examples from Ireland of new services being offered to meet the demands of the digital ‘always on’ consumer. The growing popularity of services such as online prescriptions and online GP consultations demonstrate the appetite of the Irish consumer to embrace digital channels to meet their healthcare needs.

Consumers clearly want to play a bigger role in their medical care – and the evidence to date suggests that engaging with them has important benefits. Empowered patients are more informed and motivated patients, while access to services is also dramatically improved.

By listening to, and delivering on the demands of the digital consumer, and by working with patients as co-managers of their health, Ireland has the opportunity to forge a path toward better, more effective health system.

For further information, contact Pat Power, Head of Irish Health Practice
Tel: 00 353 (0)1 646 2319
Email: patrick.power@accenture.com