90% of US Consumers Want One App to Manage Healthcare Needs

Unified digital healthcare platforms cure pains for consumers seeking better experiences in treatment and payment. And it turns out that patients who have been jilted by tech or other bottlenecks along their medical journey are wide open to trying something new.

This, according to “Healthcare In The Digital Age: Consumers See Unified Platforms As Key To Better Health, a PYMNTS and Lynx collaboration that surveyed more than 2,500 U.S. consumers/patients and found that an easy-to-use unified platform is in high demand.

Our research found that only 42% of consumers are very or extremely familiar with their health insurance benefits, which is the starting point for much of the confusion later in the healthcare journey — especially when it comes time to pay for medical services.

As the study states, “Online healthcare accounts make a meaningful impact: 82% of consumers who use them find that the accounts are convenient to use and save time, with 53% of consumers saying that these are the most important benefits they realized with their accounts from a health insurer, healthcare provider or a wellness or fitness app.

At the same time, the study found 66% of consumers said their online accounts provide improved access to healthcare, while another 36% said they improved the security of their medical information.

Healthcare In The Digital Age: Consumers See Unified Platforms As Key To Better Health

While high earners tend to be more aware of what their health benefits cover, even this group evinces an interest in streamlined digital platforms that pull and serve relevant data, as opposed to using a tangle of patient portals, apps and paper EOBs to determine coverage and cost.

“PYMNTS’ data finds that 92% of the consumers who faced problems during the payment process are at least somewhat likely to be interested in using a unified digital platform to manage their healthcare needs, and 91% who encountered problems using their healthcare services or insurance benefits share that level of interest,” the study found.

Additionally, over half (55%) of those surveyed “who experience issues using healthcare services or benefits are very or extremely interested in a unified digital healthcare platform, suggesting that most consumers may believe that a consolidated platform could eliminate some barriers to accessing health insurance and healthcare services.”

Healthcare In The Digital Age: Consumers See Unified Platforms As Key To Better Health

A unified healthcare platform is a system that brings together various components of healthcare delivery, such as electronic medical records (EMR), practice management, billing and coding, telemedicine and patient engagement, into a single, integrated platform.

The goal of a unified healthcare platform is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare delivery by making it easier for healthcare providers to access and share information and by streamlining the various processes involved in delivering care.

By bringing all of these components together in a single platform, a unified healthcare platform can help healthcare providers to more efficiently and effectively deliver care to their patients. It can also improve patient outcomes by making it easier for patients to access their medical information and communicate with their healthcare providers.