However, adoption is unfolding unevenly across age groups, creating what the PYMNTS Intelligence report “Clicks, Care & Copays—How Each Generation Navigates Digital Healthcare” described as an “expectations gap” between young patients who want seamless, end-to-end digital experiences and older consumers who prioritize familiar care and billing methods.
The report found that Generation Z and zillennials are leading the shift toward remote care and digital tools, while baby boomers remain anchored to in-person visits and traditional payments. Roughly 1 in 3 zillennials said their most recent healthcare visit was virtual, compared with just 5% of boomers, highlighting a generational divide in how care is delivered.
Examining Speed and Convenience
Access patterns diverge beyond telehealth. More than 1 in 4 Gen Z patients visited urgent care in the 90 days before being surveyed, over three times the share of boomers, signaling different expectations around speed and convenience.
Yet greater digital engagement does not translate into smoother payments. Despite the availability of digital wallets and online billing, young consumers are more likely to encounter obstacles at checkout. More than 2 in 3 Gen Z respondents reported at least one payment barrier, compared with 18% of baby boomers. That friction shows up in transparency, communication and insurance-related issues, even as older consumers reported fewer challenges.
Perceptions of effortlessness followed the same pattern, as 93% of boomers described their most recent healthcare payment as “easy,” versus just 62% of Gen Z. While 60% of consumers overall use some form of digital healthcare technology, young cohorts are much heavier users of scheduling tools, trackers and bill pay platforms than older patients, reinforcing the mismatch between engagement and payment satisfaction.
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The generational split extends to what comes next. Although 29% of Gen Z consumers said they are eager for digital or mobile payment options in the year ahead, 62% of boomers expressed no interest in adopting new healthcare technologies. Daily use of wearable health devices remained similar across age groups, but more than half of boomers never use them at all, pointing to untapped adoption potential among older patients.
Taken together, the findings suggested that digital health is less a single marketplace than a set of parallel tracks. Providers and payors must meet tech-forward young patients where they are, while continuing to support legacy channels for older consumers, and find ways to unify those experiences without adding friction.
The data showed that:
- Roughly 1 in 3 zillennials had their most recent healthcare visit virtually, compared with just 5% of baby boomers, underscoring a widening divide in care delivery.
- More than 2 in 3 Gen Z consumers encountered at least one payment barrier, versus 18% of boomers, even as young cohorts made greater use of digital healthcare tools.
- While 29% of Gen Z consumers said they want digital or mobile payment options next, 62% of boomers reported no interest in new healthcare technologies, highlighting different expectations for the future.
As with commerce more broadly, the lesson is that digitizing access alone is not enough. The healthcare journey now spans discovery, care and payment, and the weakest link increasingly sits at checkout.
Healthcare faces an inflection point. Young patients are already living digitally, but payment experiences have yet to catch up.
The opportunity lies in stitching these parallel paths into a unified, choice-rich ecosystem. Organizations that can align access, engagement and payments across generations stand to build loyalty at scale as healthcare’s digital transformation continues to take shape.
At PYMNTS Intelligence, we work with businesses to uncover insights that fuel intelligent, data-driven discussions on changing customer expectations, a more connected economy and the strategic shifts necessary to achieve outcomes. With rigorous research methodologies and unwavering commitment to objective quality, we offer trusted data to grow your business. As our partner, you’ll have access to our diverse team of PhDs, researchers, data analysts, number crunchers, subject matter veterans and editorial experts.
