A portrait of new health consumers -- snapshot courtesy of Deloitte
- Content & compliant, 29% of Americans
- Sick & savvy, 24%
- Online & onboard, 8%
- Shop & cave, 2%
- Out & about, 9%
- Casual & cautious, 28% of the population.
With an eye toward the next Health 2.0 meeting convening in San Diego on 3 March, it's great to see the category, "online and onboard." These are the consumer digerati who are health-wired and, as Deloitte puts it, are "demanding enhanced online access to all facets of health care." But the power of the Internet in health goes beyond these 8% cutting-edgistas; overall, 60% of Americans want online access to doctors, medical records, test results and appointment scheduling. Nearly 1 in 2 people are interested in keeping a personal health record -- these tend to be Gen X folks and women. Surprisingly, 1 in 4 people said they'd pay for these kinds of services.
Health Populi's Hot Points: What's most exciting about Deloitte's findings is that a majority of consumers are looking for better service, personalization, and tools to make their health care experience 'their' health care experience. 78% of Americans want to customize their health insurance. People are looking to health plans to help them support clinical decision making, and they're looking for custom-fit services -- not just a package at a set price, but value for a price. And that value will be determined by the consumer him/herself. Some 12% of consumer said they'd even be willing to pay something out-of-pocket to access health management tools.
There's a phrase used in social media circles that describes consumers as, "We the People, Formerly Known as the Audience." Now, in the context of the Deloitte study, consider: "We, the People, Formerly Known as Patients." They're more than 'health can consumers,' and we must understand them in a context beyond what's come to be thought of as "consumer-driven health care." The health consumer v2.0 will co-create, along with other aspects of her life, her health plan, her health services, and...her health.
posted by Jane Sarasohn-Kahn at
5:30 AM
4 Comments:
Good post and thoughtful analysis Jane. The big problem I have with these types of surveys, however, is that they always seem to support whatever objectives the researchers originally intended. In this case, is it all that surprising that Deloitte found that people want more digital access, after all, Deloitte makes a living on consulting and IT planning and implementation.
I'll have to go read the study, as what I'm interested to learn is consumer perspectives on privacy. A lot of talk on this subject, but I remain unconvinced as to just how Big an issue it really is. For example, I may not want my info shared with someone who wants to market me ibuprophen for after my cycling races, but I have no problem with sharing information if it will help researchers find a cure for a given aliment. I have a sense that many share this view. And then there are others, who may say, heck for a free PHR, sure you can use my de-identified data, but then that gets to the question, how does one define de-identified?
Thanks again for the post and link to the report. Something to read on my flight to HIMSS as I have chosen that event over Health2.0 this year.
By
John, At
February 22, 2008 10:27 AM
Jane, how diverse is the population surveyed? Were wide ranging cultures considered as part of the equation? Were those near the poverty level or perhaps below considered for opinions? Were blue collar service resources engaged?
By
Anonymous, At
February 22, 2008 10:34 AM
To Anonymous, surveys often under-count the opinions of people below poverty due to the way data is collected: either online, or via phone lines. In the case of this study, they did a good job at reflecting the overall Census population. Here is what the report says regarding the survey methodology: "The results were weighted to assure proportional representation similar to the U.S. Census across all major demographic groups." I note that 25% of the survey sample had family income under $30K. In the case of this survey, it appears they did a reasonable job reflecting the overall complexion of America. Good question!
By
Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, At
February 22, 2008 4:01 PM
Nice post. Here are my two main take aways from the Deloitte research:
1. There was some nice work to segment consumers and identify their defining characteristics based upon their responses. This kind of research is very insightful but I am sure it is something that companies that are heavy into online advertising (e.g., WebMD or Revolution Health) have already spent extensive time on.
2. Overwhelmingly, consumers still don't want to pay for these services out of pocket. Not really a big surprise. When you only have 25% or less of consumers willing to pay for a service out of pocket, you can't create a viable business model geared to consumers unless it depends on advertising dollars or is subsidized by some else in the healthcare system. Unfortunately, when you rely on advertising dollars you run into all the privacy issues (e.g., reselling of deidentified data.)
By
MG, At
February 25, 2008 12:14 AM
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