Survey: Digital health tools reduce health costs

DALLAS - Three-in-four consumers who use digital health tools say their health apps/devices have made them healthier, according to a HealthMine survey released Tuesday. And 59% of consumers who use digital health tools use them at least once per day. 

 

Another 57% responded that using digital health tools has helped to lower their healthcare costs. 

 

"The benefits of connected health are just starting to be realized," stated Bryce Williams, CEO and president HealthMine. "Real-time data can help drive the right health actions at the right time. Improving health status one person at a time can add up to improved population health," he said. "At HealthMine, we are making sure the data gathered by these tools is: one, unified with a person's complete health information, and two, analyzed against diagnostic codes and a person's clinical 'big picture' to identify specific actions that improve health."

 

Consumers are taking more steps toward digital health. There are now nearly 165,000 health-related apps which run on Apple's iOS and Google's Android. PwC, a consulting firm, forecasts that by 2017 such apps will have been downloaded 1.7 billion times. Add to that 10 million activity trackers and 7 million smart watches shipped by the end of 2014 (ABI Research), as well as a growing crop of other internet-connected health devices. According to HealthMine's survey, these tools — when used consistently — can drive up healthier behavior and drive down healthcare costs.

 

Despite the growth in health app and device usage, some consumers need more engagement and/or education to reap the benefits of these tools. HealthMine's survey found that, for those who are using digital health but not seeing the advantages, low usage is the No. 1 reason, followed by a lack of understanding of what to do next/differently.

 

The results are based on a March HealthMine survey of 500 insured consumers who use mobile/internet-connected health tools.