Digital healthcare – 10 future insights

Digital healthcare is about understanding what patients want and having a well thought out digital strategy to deliver it. We have summarised the key insights from an international survey by McKinsey&Company (July 214). These findings can help healthcare organisations plan their next moves in the journey toward full digitization of their services.

digital healthcare

1. Patient adoption – around the world patients have grown more comfortable using digital networks and services, even for complex and sensitive issues such as healthcare successful websites such as PatientsLikeMe.

2. Digital healthcare services – patients prefer these digital channels; website/online presence, email, smartphone apps, social media, phone and fax.

3. Patient demand – the McKinsey research found more than 75 per cent of respondents would like to use digital healthcare services, as long as these services met their needs.

4. Multichannel delivery – non digital channels will continue to be relevant and important in the future of healthcare, so digital channels will have to be embedded in a multichannel strategy.

5. Patient needs – the reason patients are slow to adopt digital healthcare is primarily because existing services don’t meet their needs or because they are of poor quality.

6. Patient use – older patients (those over 50) want digital healthcare services nearly as much as their younger counterparts; more than 70 per cent of all older patients in the United Kingdom and Germany want to use digital healthcare services.

7. Patient segmentation – older patients prefer traditional digital channels such as websites and e-mail, while younger patients are, unsurprisingly, more open to newer channels such as social media.

8. Mobile health – mobile is poised to play a significant role in healthcare, in contrast to healthcare access; mobile access and the increasing penetration of smartphones as well as the 3G and 4G networks will provide a significant boost to the use of the mobile platform for providing healthcare services.

9. Mobile demand – mobile healthcare demand is strongest among younger people, so health systems should therefore create mobile solutions that target this audience for example lifestyle apps.

10. Patient assistance – in the UK patients most often cite ‘finding and scheduling physician appointments’ as the service with which they need assistance, it does not need a massive IT investment to get this right.

Patients from all age groups are more than willing to use digital services for healthcare. To get started, healthcare organisations need to understand what it is that patients really want and the best way to give it to them. Healthcare companies should continually add new services to keep patient attention and build value. What are your digital healthcare plans for the future? Share your thoughts below or on Twitter.

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