As patients integrate technology and wearables into their daily lives, they increasingly want to connect with healthcare providers in a digital manner, according to a new survey from Salesforce.
In its "2016 Connected Patient Report," Salesforce surveyed more than 1,700 insured U.S. adults who have a primary care physician to understand how they communicate with providers and how technology plays a role in that relationship.
Here are six key findings from the report.
1. More than 9 in 10 patients are satisfied with their primary care providers, but nearly all use "traditional" channels when communicating with them: 23 percent said they make appointments in person and 76 percent said they make appointments over the phone.
2. Fifty-nine percent of surveyed patients said they would choose a primary care provider who offers a patient mobile app over a provider who does not offer an app. When homing in on millennial respondents, 70 percent indicated this to be the case.
3. Sixty-two percent of patients said they would be open to telemedicine consultations as an alternative to in-person visits.
4. Seventy-eight percent of patients want their providers to have access to health data from wearables so providers have more updated information on their health and to provide more personalized care.
5. Two-thirds of millennials said they were very or somewhat likely to use a health tracking device given to them by their insurance company if they could receive better health insurance rates based on data provided by the device.
6. "Patients today are choosing their providers, in part, based on how well they use technology to communicate with them and manage their health," said Joshua Newman, MD, CMO and general manager of healthcare and life sciences at Salesforce, in a statement.
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