6 in 10 US Consumers Now Get Preventative Healthcare Online

The United States is in the middle of a preventative healthcare boom. In August 2022 alone, 148 million consumers across the United States used some sort of preventative healthcare technology — including wearables, meditation apps and mood boosters, among many others — and their numbers are rapidly expanding.

In “Connected Wellness: What’s Next In The Connected Economy,” a collaboration with CareCredit, PYMNTS delves into the details of the preventative healthcare surge taking the United States by storm. We surveyed a census-balanced panel of 3,213 consumers about how their use of digital healthcare technologies — especially for preventative healthcare purposes — is evolving along with the digital transformation of the U.S. economy.

Key findings from our research include:

• Consumers are using the internet to take their health into their own hands. The share of consumers using some type of preventative healthcare technology has been steadily increasing since November 2021, reaching never-before-seen heights in August at 57% of consumers.

• The use of mental healthcare apps is growing faster than any other type of preventative healthcare tool. The share of consumers using mental health tools like meditation apps and mood boosters is up 32% from November 2021, while their use of wearables like Fitbit and Apple Watch to track vitals increased just 17% in that time.

• The most connected 10% of consumers are 1.65 times more likely to be engaged in preventative healthcare activities than the average consumer. These so-called “integrated tech” consumers not only own more connected devices than the general population but also use those devices to engage in digital healthcare activities more often.

These key findings are only the top-level look at the state of the digital healthcare economy in the United States. “Connected Wellness: What’s Next In The Connected Economy” explores the details of how preventative healthcare became central to connected consumers’ lives.

To learn more about how consumers are increasingly using digital technology to take their health into their own hands, download the report.