In the near future, having an appointment with your doctor online will become as normal as making a payment on an app or booking a taxi through Uber.
Disruptive technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and telehealth, along with tech giants like Amazon, Apple, and Google, are changing the face of healthcare as we know it.
According to the World Health Organisation, global healthcare spending reached $7.5 trillion in 2016, representing 10% of global GDP. Growing and aging populations, as well as an increase in chronic diseases are among some of the biggest contributors to these rising costs and as a result, hospitals and physicians are under immense strain.
This is where technological advancements could potentially alleviate some of the problems affecting the healthcare industry, particularly when it comes to creating greater efficiencies across the board.
It’s time to take control of our health
Consumers are increasingly expecting the same digital experience in all aspects of their lives. We’re able to use our mobile phones for banking and shop online without stepping outside our front door, so why should healthcare be any different? Improved connectivity through data networks and access to the best satellite internet services, all means consumers are able to connect with their healthcare providers in much more convenient and digitally-led ways.
With healthcare spending on the rise, it’s now more important than ever to empower consumers to manage their own health. Our global research reveals 36% of consumers are using the internet to research health issues and healthcare products, jumping up to 42% for users aged 55-64, where a focus on health becomes even more crucial.
What’s really exciting is consumers are eager to embrace change and new technologies. In the U.S. and UK, half of consumers say the ability to consult with a doctor by a phone or video call instead of in-person would help them manage their healthcare more effectively, showing there’s great appetite for digital appointments. With digital health services, consumers don’t have to wait weeks to get an appointment or spend hours in a waiting room and it also helps to free up doctors’ time to focus on more urgent cases in-person.
Being able to communicate with doctors digitally is just one piece of the solution though. Over half of consumers say the ability to access their health information online would be beneficial in managing their health. Additionally, around 70% of consumers are happy to have their health data accessible through their smartphone. This requires a shift in how we think about health data. Having a cloud-based, centralized and secure electronic health record could be key in helping consumers actively engage in their own wellbeing and provides a sense of reassurance and ownership. On this front, Apple, Google and Microsoft are working toward giving patients access to historical health insurance claims from their devices, providing users with more data portability and choice in how they access their own information.
As with everything, digital health services aren’t perfect. One of the potential downsides is it removes the face-to-face, personal interaction a patient has with their doctor. It’s clear from our research consumers’ first preference for communicating with their doctor in future is still in-person. This highlights that even though digital services will become a core part of healthcare moving forward, the human touch still can’t be replaced.
Did someone call for an AI doctor?
With AI and machine learning constantly advancing, areas like early diagnosis, automation of tasks, development of new medicines, and precision surgery are all made possible.
Our research reveals the perceived benefits of AI among consumers in the U.S. and UK are mainly centered around its ability to offer greater preventative care and create efficiencies. While AI has many potential benefits, implementing it also comes with its own set of challenges, and not just from a cost or infrastructural perspective.
For consumers, privacy and security issues are their biggest concern overall (51%). AI and machine learning requires huge amounts of data to learn and improve, so ensuring patient privacy is essential. This is particularly relevant for tech companies like Google and Amazon too. We found that the vast majority of consumers are comfortable sharing their data with their healthcare provider, but this dips significantly for technology firms – 39% of consumers don’t feel comfortable sharing their health data with technology firms, and a further 27% are unsure how they feel. In fact, consumers are actually more comfortable sharing their data with an AI research firm than a technology firm. This highlights a significant trust issue because consumers are less likely to be familiar with an AI firm than a well-known tech brand.
Additionally, close to half of consumers worry doctors might become too dependent on AI and have concerns with the accuracy of AI, such as providing patients with incorrect information.
To test this, we outlined a thought experiment that said the consumer was due to have a minor surgical procedure and they have two choices of surgeons, a human surgeon or an AI-driven robot. We explicitly said the AI could perform the surgery more precisely than the human could and we asked them which they would choose. We found that 45% of consumers would still choose the human to perform the surgery, while 28% remained unsure. This demonstrates consumer confidence and understanding of AI in healthcare has a long way to go.
While consumers’ concerns with AI are valid, it’s important to note that AI isn’t expected to go it alone. With the appropriate applications across healthcare, AI might have the power to free up doctors’ time when it comes to administrative tasks and perform greater precision surgeries, but it will always need some form of human input. In an ideal world, AI and humans will work together and complement each other, and that’s where we’ll really see the capabilities of AI shine.
We know technology and AI will play a key role in healthcare moving forward into next year, but it’s important to recognize its limitations. Consumers appreciate the convenience that technology offers, but a personal human touch can’t be replaced, at least for the foreseeable future.
By Katie Gilsenan, Senior Trends Analyst, GlobalWebIndex
