According to a digital health trends report by Simon-Kucher, healthcare providers remain cautious about adopting digital health products, despite a positive trend in the use of digital health solutions. Concerns about product effectiveness, compliance with data protection and security, and usability are among the issues providers face. Convenience, personalization, and data integration are essential for providers to recommend and use digital health solutions. Policymakers, payers, and the industry must convince providers of the added benefits of digital health solutions.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced healthcare and life science companies to consider digital tools and strategies seriously. However, a new challenge has emerged: getting providers to use and recommend digital health products. A digital health trends report by Simon-Kucher highlights that while there is a positive trend in the use of digital health solutions, healthcare providers remain cautious about adopting them.
Jan Bordon, a partner at Simon-Kucher, notes that there is a difference between patient-centric solutions, such as digital therapeutics, and HCP-centric solutions, where healthcare providers (HCPs) use software or AI algorithms to diagnose or make informed decisions. The report shows that there are still HCPs who are laggards and are skeptical about digital therapeutics as a treatment option. However, there are also champions, typically younger providers, who are confident in recommending them. The big group in the middle are cautious explorers who are skeptical and need to be convinced.
Bordon notes that this group makes up nearly 70% of the HCPs who participated in the study. While patients may receive information from Google, ChatGPT, and other sources, they still trust HCPs the most. However, if two-thirds of HCPs are not yet convinced or are not even aware of potential solutions, there is a limitation on how many prescriptions can be generated. Bordon believes it will take time to convince the cautious explorers, and while the laggards may be hard to convert, the cautious explorers are the ones who will drive change.
Kay Schultze, senior manager at Simon-Kucher, believes that the industry is still at the beginning of the curve, but there is a positive trend. The report shows that 83% of HCPs believe that the use of digital health solutions will increase in the future. However, the most commonly accepted solution types at present are monitoring solutions for patients. The report highlights that HCPs still have concerns or doubts regarding the effectiveness of digital health solutions. Compliance with data protection and security is also a concern, raising liability issues.
Usability is another concern; patients may start using an app and then drop out. Even if the product is effective, patients may be reluctant to use it continuously. Schultze notes that there is a need for a joint effort from policymakers, payers, and the industry to convince providers of the added benefits of digital health solutions.
When it comes to what providers want from digital health solutions that would make them more likely to use them with their patients, Bordon notes that convenience and personalization are key. Providers believe that simple data functionalities, automatic data integration into the apps, and single sign-on are important. Personalization is also essential so patients can enter their goals and content and tailor the solution to their needs. Goal-setting is also relevant to ensuring that patients have achievable goals and transparency.
Regarding solutions that physicians use, such as HCP dashboards, data integration into electronic health records is vital. Providers want recommendations on what they should do and then decide how to proceed, rather than spending hours interpreting results. Convenience and ease of use are important for providers. Access to individual patient data is also essential, not only on an aggregate level. Integration into the physician workflow is an important point.
