Accenture Survey: Seniors Want Online Access To Digital Health

By Megan Williams, contributing writer

A survey from Accenture highlights an important shift in the demographic of healthcare technology users, as well as detailing their preferences.

The recently released survey emphasizes the fact that 3.9 million Americans turn 65 this year. It also shows that while 67 percent would like to access services from home, the majority (66 percent) are concerned that existing technology does not meet those needs.

Additionally, seniors indicate they want:

• Self-Care Tools. More than two-thirds of seniors surveyed indicated that they preferred to use self-care technology to manage their health themselves and the business world is tuning in — AARP estimates that startup funding grew from $143 million to $166 million from 2012 to 2013.
• Wearables. Wearables were also popular with more than 60 percent of respondents saying they were willing to wear a health-monitoring device to track their vital signs. This included heart rate and blood pressure tracking technology. AARP estimated a funding jump to $266 million in 2013, which is more than the previous two years combined.
• Help Navigating Health Needs: The human equation was still important though, with one-third of respondents indicating they’d like to work with a patient navigator to better manage their care. This sector showed $384 million in investment in 2014.
• Access To Online Communities. Seniors are also very connected, with 60 percent indicating they were somewhat or very likely to use community services such as Patients Like Me as resources to judge reactions to a doctor’s recommendation before they took action. Funding for similar platforms was up to $142 million in 2013.
• Tools To Access Their Health Records. Seniors are making some progress in accessing their personal health records, with one-fourth of those surveyed indicating they regularly use EHRs to manage their health, and 57 percent using them to access lab results. Accenture projected these numbers would grow to 42 percent in five years, especially with growth in consumer-facing health tools.

Tech Trends Entering Health

Seniors have become accustomed to digital tools in shopping, banking, communication, and other areas, and they’ve begun to expect the same in healthcare.

According to Kaveh Safavi, M.D., “What this means for healthcare systems is that they need to consider the role that digital technology can play in making healthcare more convenient for patients of all ages at every touch point.”

The survey also showed an association between proactive health management and a prioritization of technology — 75 percent who value technology were found to be active in tracking their daily weight. Only 43 percent of those who did not value technology did the same. For cholesterol monitoring, half of all seniors considered active with technology monitored their cholesterol, while only 31 percent of the non-tech savvy did.

Additional results from the survey can be accessed here on Accenture’s site.