Patients are ready to embrace technology

As U.S. healthcare shifts to a value-based care model, providers, payors and patients are looking for sustainable solutions to lower hospital costs while improving patient outcomes. The adoption of innovative mobile health technology is an integral element of the new model. Patients are an underutilized resource in healthcare and their engagement is necessary to succeeding in value-based care. Technology has the ability to transform engagement, by making care convenient and accessible for greater numbers of patients.

Although some worry that mobile health isn’t accessible for all populations, recent data shows 84.2% of the U.S. population has access to the Internet. Nearly 73% of U.S. adults own a smartphone. Users check their smartphones an average of 150 times per day. Given the reach of technology, health tech and mobile health has the potential to connect hard to reach patient populations- anytime, anywhere.

Technology can connect patients to their clinicians and other medical personnel in unprecedented ways. Many health and wellness apps bridge the gap between the patient and the provider through messaging platforms, proving that there is great opportunity to leverage applications to better link patients to their care teams, leading to better care and outcomes.

Through these new tools, patients are empowered in their self-care, with new levels of access to, and interest in their own medical information. And they’re ready to use it . Recent data suggests that nearly 72% of Internet users went online to research information related to their health conditions in the past year. Additionally, 58% of smartphone users reported that they have downloaded a health app.

However, as patients take advantage of this ability to find out more, there’s a risk that they will find and follow untrustworthy health advice, or that the apps they’re downloading aren’t as clinical as they appear. It’s important for providers to catch up to tech savvy patients and get in control of the way they use technology, to ensure they’re not fed misinformation that could ultimately harm their health.

The opportunity to improve care through new tools is too big to pass up. Technology has the potential to revolutionize health care, making care more personal, convenient, and ultimately more effective.

Featured image credit: “the world wide web” by frankieleon cc2.0 via flickr