Love vs. efficiency: Digital healthcare for the elderly needs to consider the whole family

Increasingly, we are choosing healthcare for ourselves based on the technology capabilities and services our doctors offer—not just on the quality of the healthcare itself. If our starting set of expectations includes the functionality and convenience tech healthcare brings, then how do we go on to help our aging parents choose their own healthcare? What choices do we help them make?

Brands wanting to provides products and services for older generations, by necessity, have to account for the choices that younger generations make. In this post, we explore the generational differences in health tech adoption — how the ways they make decisions are shifting and how brands can appeal to both generations together.

The generational divide in tech-forward healthcare

Telemedicine and virtual healthcare aren’t the only ways technology has impacted our personal healthcare, but they’re important bellwethers. Though they might still feel novel, their impact has revolutionized the healthcare industry over the last decade, and especially so over the last year of quarantine. Distance and physical accessibility are no longer obstacles to receiving care — urgent care, mental health, routine monitoring are all possible through a quick video call and test results or billing available at the click of a button (McKinsey).

But as exciting as these changes are, not all age groups welcomed the new opportunities afforded by the technology with open arms. Younger generations, recognizing convenience and functionality, proved ready and willing to take advantage of all types of digital healthcare and are making healthcare choices based on tech accessibility. Their older counterparts, however, weren’t initially so impressed: only 12% of Boomers and Silent Generation survey respondents were “much more likely” to choose a medical provider because they offered video conferencing, versus 24+ percent of Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z respondents (Accenture).

Accenture: More than other generations, digital capabilities influence whether younger consumers choose medical providers (2019)

Younger family members have been taking care of their elderly kin since the dawn of civilization and the practice continues in today’s modern America: 83% of seniors receive some level of care from family members or close friends invested in their well-being (Nationwide). It’s no surprise that as these younger generations embrace technology as a natural part of their lives, they expect the same digital conveniences in caring for their aging loved ones.

The clash of priorities: Love versus efficiency

With their aging parents falling among the Silent Generation or older Boomers, Gen Xers are increasingly stepping into the role of caregivers. The burden falls disproportionately on the women of this generation, according to author Allison Gilbert, in our recent conversation with her about the intergenerational dynamics that occur along with aging. And in taking care of the older generation, they’re balancing competing interests: “You want to help your parent and not feel like you’re shirking your responsibility. You want to be there for them and be useful. But at the same time, you want to feel like caring for your parent isn’t taking over your entire life. You want to save time, but also not cut corners on what your parent or inlaws need.”

“You want to save time, but also not cut corners on what your parent or inlaws need” —Allison Gilbert

These Gen Xers arelooking to make sure their parents are receiving occasional check-ins from a distance, or more involved care, even adopting live-in situations to be able to look after them. But Gen X’s healthcare priorities are markedly different from their parents’: Gen Xers are concerned about appointment options, looking for providers with availability evenings and weekends, and convenient scheduling through apps or websites instead of playing phone tag with the office staff.

Their time is precious and spending hours in the waiting room is not something they necessarily have the time for—they have their own families to take care of too. Gen X also tends to make healthcare choices the same way they make retail choices — through lots of research and comparison. Reviews and reputation matter (etactics). And as they take on managing healthcare for their parents — near or far — they naturally expect the same standards and conveniences as they would of their own healthcare.

Though those among the older generations tend to need the most care, they are unfortunately also the least likely to get it. The Silent Generation is the largest consumer of healthcare, followed closely by Boomers (Deloitte), but up until the pandemic, both groups ranked low in their use of virtual healthcare services. Responses to COVID softened some of the hesitations, but 17% of adults over 50 still say they have never used video conferencing tools of any kind, let alone healthcare-specific virtual services (National Poll on Healthy Aging).

That might be tough to imagine for those of us that feel like Zoom is a constant companion these days, but this isn’t surprising when you consider older individuals’ overall healthcare preferences. The Silent generation and older Boomers look for their experience to be simple and predictable; they value in-person care with a consistent Primary Care Provider (PCP) — 85% and 84% of Silent gen and Boomers, respectively, have one (Accenture) — and look for trustworthy and reputable, but traditional, healthcare (etactics). These groups are happy to keep receiving the care they are accustomed to in the way they’ve always known it: in-person, and without the hassle and distraction of new technology. For these generations, convenient healthcare is about maintaining the status quo.

Helping brands plan for dual audiences

Mixed priorities call for a delicate balance in a healthcare provider or platform’s strategy. Going forward, virtual healthcare needs to appeal to the needs not just of the elderly patient, but also the preferences of their younger caregivers. This presents a challenge: how do you appeal to Gen X decision-makers who will shop and buy a given product or service—while still involving the aging Silent/Boomer generations who would be the primary users of that product or service?

Three key considerations for brands in this situation:

1. A dual-audience strategy: Combining a non-intimidating and friendly user experience for older gens, while ensuring the functionality necessary to satisfy the needs of younger caregivers means both audiences would be happy with a quality solution. This requires research, coordination, and consideration from the get-go. But a product designed and built for purpose will have a better chance of impressing and being adopted by both audiences.
2. Content targeted across the purchase journey: Broadly generalizing, content can be targeted to the two generations by phase of the journey. Brands can cater to Gen Xers by building awareness and serving up shopping-related content. At the same time, brands can help older generations get comfortable using the product, fitting it into their routines, and offering social proof from their family and friends circles so they know they aren’t alone in using it.
3. A calculated partner outreach strategy: Grounded in a thorough understanding of the moments of opportunity in the audience’s consumer journey, a partner outreach strategy that recognizes the individuals best positioned to influence the decision-maker at these points can shape their understanding of the need and product. This is especially true when it comes to Gen X as we know they like to consider multiple options, so having several points of contact is important.

Nothing is more sure than the passage of time. Technology will continue to evolve and new trends will revolutionize the landscape, some sooner than others. Today’s caregivers will one day need care themselves, their role replaced by younger generations with their own vastly different preferences in healthcare. We can’t see the future, but we can predict there will be change, and for this, with enough planning and adaptability, we can be prepared.