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Survey: 83% of patients trust their docs for health advice
Patients foremost trust their doctors for medical information but see digital health tools as a means to a more modern, streamlined experience.
Patients still overwhelmingly trust their doctors and value in-person connections, but set amid a backdrop of a consumer technology transformation, they do have some preference for a digital healthcare experience, according to the latest surveying from PatientPoint.
The company's "Patient Confidence Index" was based on survey responses from 2,000 U.S. healthcare consumers collected by Talker Research.
On the whole, the report showed that patients are trusting of their healthcare providers, a key turning point as many in the industry question how patients seek and assess healthcare information.
But even as patients still regard their providers as trustworthy, they are increasingly hungry for a digital healthcare experience. Patients might still be wary of artificial intelligence and large language models, like ChatGPT, for finding health information. However, they want to visit a modern doctor's office with all the technological fixings.
Balancing in-person provider connections with technology, plus capitalizing on patients' trust in their clinicians, will be key as healthcare contends with a landscape defined by waning trust in traditional authorities and consumer preference.
Patient trust in docs prevails
Perhaps most heartening from the survey were findings that patients still overwhelmingly trust their healthcare providers.
This comes as medical misinformation and a growing bevy of informational resources cast doubt on provider expertise. Separate research has shown that social media and an individual's own personal research often compete with providers' own authority.
This survey turns that notion on its head, finding that 83% of patients consider their doctors their most trusted source for health information. That's up slightly from 81% of patients who said the same last year.
Moreover, patients are foremost contacting their healthcare providers to learn more about health and medicine. While 62% of patients said they seek health information from a healthcare provider or specialist, only 41% use a search engine and 11% use social media to find answers.
But even as patients prioritize their personal, trusting relationships with their doctors, they still seek a digital healthcare experience, the survey continued.
Patients say technology drives convenient care
Convenience remains a big factor in why patients want more technology in their healthcare encounters. For example, 53% of patients expect to be able to book an appointment without having to speak to a person in the near future. Another 45% expect to get instant test results and 39% to access biometric check-in tools.
But patients are skeptical of other forms of health IT.
For example, only 5% of respondents said they use AI to research their health, although 27% said their usage of the tool is growing. Meanwhile, 29% said they feel comfortable sharing their health data with AI, but they acknowledge the utility the tool can have for delivering personalized care.
Rather, patients are looking for streamlined digital tools that make it easier for them to engage with their own health, the survey showed. The top factors that patients say make a doctor's office modern include the following:
- Appointment reminders (71%).
- Portal access (63%).
- Online scheduling (53%).
- Electronic health records (53%).
Having a modern office is important, as 66% of patients say a modern medical environment improves the patient experience. Another 45% of respondents said it makes them trust their doctor more.
Notably, offices are falling behind on this; 86% of respondents said they think their doctor's office is stuck at least five years in the past.
Healthcare organizations seeking to support a good patient experience must balance investment in technology and investment in people. Cultivating providers with good interpersonal skills, plus purchasing and investing in connected tools to streamline a consumer-centered experience, will be critical.
Patients are willing to share their data for personalized medicine
Indeed, patient responses indicate that technology and the personal touch in healthcare don't have to be at odds. Rather, technology and the personal data it gleans could help support providers in delivering more personalized medicine.
Four in 10 (42%) of patients said more personalized care is in their future, likely because they are more likely than ever to share their health information with key stakeholders.
Interest in sharing medical information with primary care providers is nearly ubiquitous, with 93% of patients reporting as much. Another 88% of patients said they'd be interested in sharing their health data with specialty care doctors and 84% with their primary care doctor's medical staff. Fewer patients (46%) said they were willing to share their health data with pharmaceutical companies.
Perhaps surprisingly, patients are open to this data being used for advertising, with 82% saying they'd be comfortable sharing their health information to receive personalized health brand messages, the report said.
Costs continue to hamper medication adherence
High costs, and particularly inflation, are still getting in the way of good medication adherence, which is key to effective chronic disease management.
But the good news is, cost-related challenges are less common than they've been in the past.
According to the survey, 39% of patients said they delayed getting a prescription due to inflation this year. That's slightly more than last year (36%), but markedly less than in 2023, when 52% of patients did delayed prescriptions and in 2022 when 57% said they did the same.
Still, four in 10 patients delaying their prescriptions is notable, as consumers find themselves in financial dire straits. According to the survey, 79% of patients have to prioritize groceries over pills, while 62% prioritize utilities and 51% must prioritize their rent or mortgage.
With little wiggle room to address cost barriers to care, healthcare providers can work to provide patients with more information about the medications they can access.
More than 90% of patients said they'd feel more empowered in their medication adherence if they understood how the treatment worked (47%), knew it was important (43%), knew they could afford it (43%) and had easy-to-follow instructions for taking it (43%). Similarly, 21% of patients said better patient education materials about the consequences of not taking their medications as prescribed would empower them in their adherence.
Getting to a healthier nation will require better patient access to health information. Capitalizing on two key predictors of a good patient experience -- connection with a trusted provider and a streamlined digital experience -- clinicians can convey high-quality information to patients that support patient engagement and care management.
Sara Heath has been reporting news related to patient engagement and health equity since 2015.
