How Americans' health care expectations are changing
A recent survey found increased support for virtual health care, an interest in whole-person health, and a desire for predictability and affordability.
A new survey on how consumers use digital health care resources finds that health care applications are flooding the market, and that Americans are increasingly comfortable with using online health care sites.
The survey, by Evernorth, the health services division of insurer Cigna, polled more than 1,000 health care consumers with employer-sponsored plans, along with more than 600 HR and health plan leaders.
Related: How employers can meet demand for holistic health care benefits
The survey found increased support for virtual health care, an interest in whole-person health, and a desire for predictability and affordability in health care services.
In addition, the survey found that 64% of consumers say they trust new technologies—including virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and robotics—for preventive care and health monitoring. HR and health plan leaders expressed more caution, though, when it came to investment in some new areas.
“Consumers are more comfortable using digital touchpoints along their current health care journey—and plan to continue using them in the future,” the report said. “In fact, Americans expect the use of digital health options and virtual care to increase as the pandemic subsides and beyond, indicating these trends are here to stay.”
Consumers expect more virtual care
The survey found that 76% of Americans, and 81% of middle-aged adults, expect that more care will be delivered at home in the future. In addition, 50% say they are comfortable replacing in-person care with virtual care in cases where they have mild symptoms.
Convenience and cost also play a role in consumer attitudes toward virtual care. The survey found that 47% of consumers say they are more likely to feel comfortable replacing in-person care with virtual care if it’s more convenient to do so; 44% said they were more likely to feel comfortable if it reduces costs.
However, one finding showed a preference for a more personal touch when receiving health information: 32% preferred to receive such information by email; 30% said they’d prefer to receive health information face to face. When compared to other options (10% preferred a phone call, only 6% preferred a test message), it seemed that consumers prefer more traditional methods of sharing information.
As seen from other research, consumers are also interested in expanding mental health services—but increasingly are seeing this issue as part of a broader work/life balance equation, tied to the “whole-person health” concept.
The survey found that 89% of consumers wanted expanded offerings in this area. Consumers listed their top priorities for employer support as: work/life balance (71%), flexible scheduling (58%), and mental health days (55%). The report noted that only 12% of consumers surveyed said their employer currently offers mental health days.
Health plan/HR leaders see potential in digital care
The support for digital care tools was very high among health care decision-makers in the survey: strong majorities of Human Resources decision-makers (HRDMs) and health plan leaders (HPLs) said they valued virtual health services. For both groups, support for expansion of virtual care options was in the 90%-range for areas such as primary care, behavioral health, and occupational therapy.
Opinions on which technologies hold the most promise differed a bit among health care leaders. With HRDMs, 47% said that remote monitoring will have the greatest impact on health care in the future; only 32% of HPLs agreed. And while 38% of HRDMs said wearables would have a big impact, only 24% of HPLs said the same. However, there was more agreement on the top technology choice of HPLs—44% of them said digital therapeutics would have a big impact on health care, 42% of HRDMs said the same.
Noting that many consumers expressed support for the use of new technologies, the report said that HR and health plan leaders are a little more cautious. “While some decision-makers believe advances in technology will transform health care, consumers are more open to using these new technologies (64%)—identifying a gap between consumer and decision-maker beliefs,” the report said. “This is likely due to the practical challenges that decision-makers face when implementing new technology.”
The increased emphasis on whole-person health is taking place among decision makers as well as with consumers, the report suggested. The survey found that both HPLs (95%) and HRDMs (93%) said they were concerned about mental health of employees, given the impact of COVID-19.
Investment in this area gathered less support: although HRDMs showed some support for near-future investment in telehealth (45%), mental health solutions (40%), and whole-person health solutions (35%), support for near-term investment among HPLs was in the teens for these options, the survey found.
Two areas where the survey found similar interest among business leaders: addressing social determinants of health as an investment area was supported by 28% of HRDMs and 27% of HPLs, while investment in improved clinical outcomes was supported by 28% of HRDMs and 30% of HPLs.
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