Would you use digital health care services if given the opportunity? In a CTIA – The Wireless Association and Harris Interactive poll, about two-thirds of Internet users would use mobile health services if available to the public, with 23% actually replacing in-person doctor visits with mobile health care.
Respondents are most interested in mobile exams and consultations, followed by mobile wellness care, according to an index of what mobile healthcare options users would be willing to pursue. The poll indicates users are least interested in using mobile healthcare for infant monitoring. Respondents also indicated that people in remote locations or with chronic conditions would benefit most from a mobile healthcare system.
In another survey by Lightspeed Research, focused on patient-doctor communication, almost half of the respondents saw e-mail had an advantage in communicating with their primary care physician, mostly due to its ability to save time. Fifty-nine-percent of respondents saw e-mail as a way to avoid timely in-person doctor consultations, and 56% said e-mail would allow them to wait less time for an appointment. Other reasons why respondents preferred e-mail communication with doctors included avoidance of other ill patients in waiting rooms, the opportunity to save money and transportation costs and not miss work and less public embarrassment.
Source: eMarketer; November 9, 2009
