Baby Boomers, Gen X Prefer Family Practice Docs; Gen Z, Millennials, Bridge Millennials Favor Urgent Care

healthcare

Almost three-quarters of patients (73%) who visited healthcare practices in the past 12 months saw family practice doctors, while 58% of patients visited dentists and 45% saw specialists, according to “The Digital Healthcare Gap: Streamlining The Patient Journey,” a PYMNTS and Experian Health collaboration.

Our research also shows that less than one-quarter of respondents visited a physician at a hospital (24%) or urgent care center (23%) and only 14% visited a radiologist.

Looking further into the data, baby boomers and seniors and Generation X patients were the most likely to use family practice doctors, at 84% and 80% respectively. Generation Z, millennial and bridge millennial patients were more likely to see urgent care or hospital physicians than older generations, with about one-third of each generation of consumers doing so in the last year.

Meanwhile, 11% of baby boomers and seniors visited an urgent care physician, while almost 1 in 5 (19%) saw a hospital physician. Close to two-thirds of all age groups scheduled dentist appointments, while 8% of patients scheduled remote appointments, with family practice patients being the most likely to do so at 10%.

Patients prefer interacting with healthcare providers in the office or via phone call more than any other method, from scheduling appointments and getting results to paying for patient care, but patient engagement through digital methods is high — and getting higher — for most patient activities.

One-third of patients filled out forms for their most recent healthcare visit via digital methods, with hospital physician patients being most likely to use patient portals at 18%, and urgent care patients being most likely to use the practices’ websites at 17%. Dental patients were the least likely to fill out forms via digital channels, according to our research.

Our data also shows that 1 out of 5 patients scheduled appointments via digital channels in the last 12 months, led by urgent care patients (17%), while 16% did so via the practices’ website and 5% via text message.

Family practice patients tend to use patient portals (15%) to schedule appointments more than other digital channels, compared to 5% who do so via their practices’ websites and 2% who do so via text. Dental practice patients are the least likely to use patient portals to schedule appointments (7%).

Patients preferred to use patient portals to access their test results, with 43% of family practice doctors presenting results via such portals. More than of one-third of patients received test results via portal from radiologists or physicians at urgent care centers or hospitals.

Dentists were the least likely to release results via patient portal (19%). Almost half (49%) of dental patients still receive their results at appointments.

In “The Digital Healthcare Gap: Streamlining The Patient Journey,” PYMNTS and Experian Health examine how healthcare providers currently interact with patients via digital channels such as patient portals.

The report also offers actionable insights into the gaps in healthcare providers’ digital practices and how meeting patients’ expectations for a seamless digital experience throughout the patient journey can increase engagement and improve care.

Our data also finds that one-quarter of consumers used digital methods to pay for their most recent healthcare visits, with patient portals being the most common at 14%. Radiologists’ patients were the most likely to pay via patient portal, with 22% doing so. Almost 1 out of 5 patients (19%) of either urgent care or hospital physicians paid via patient portal, and 17% of patients of family practice doctors did the same.

Dentist and specialist patients were the least likely to use patient portals to pay for their most recent appointment.

Websites are not popular channels for patient payments, with less than 10% of all patients use their practitioners’ websites to pay for care, and 57% of dentist patients paid at the office.