In-Person Care Still Valued in Digital Age, Consumer Survey Finds
Patients prioritized in-person care and other elements of care delivery over digital solutions when asked to rank their care preferences in the consumer survey.
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- While virtual care is attractive, patients still value in-person care, according to a consumer survey conducted by Blue Cross Blue Shield Arizona (BCBSAZ) and USC Schaeffer Center.
"It's our job to adapt the current healthcare ecosystem so that it aligns with how people want to receive their care today," said Pam Kehaly, BCBSAZ president and chief executive officer, said in a statement. "We are working with partners to find out what consumers want and to create a care delivery system that is affordable, personalized, and convenient.”
As consumerism in healthcare becomes more prominent, heightened awareness of consumer needs and interests has been an ongoing trend to improve member engagement, posing major challenges for payers in recent years. In October 2019, Understanding America Study surveyed 1,531 individuals to reflect the Arizona population.
The survey found that, even as healthcare technology takes off, person-to-person interactions with providers remain important to patients.
"Polling data suggest that the tide has turned in the last decade, and consumers are now more focused on costs and affordability than access to a broad network of providers," added Dana Goldman, director of the USC Schaeffer Center. "At the same time, other research has shown that consumers still highly value spending time with their doctor. We recognized the need to disentangle these competing demands to better understand how health plans can deliver value, and how digital services can enhance rather than detract from that goal."
Consumers clearly are attracted to digital solutions that may make healthcare more cost-effective and convenient. Over 50 percent of the respondents said that, in the event of an urgent health concern, they would be likely to use virtual care for an instant response.
When it comes to addressing more mundane healthcare needs, such as scheduling an appointment or setting a reminder for medication adherence, nearly seventy percent said that they would use an app or online platform to enable these tasks.
Consumer preference for digital solutions is strong enough that, at times, even higher cost was not a deterrent to choosing a digital solution.
Participants faced a hypothetical scenario in which they had to decide whether to choose a digitally enabled health plan. The health plan incorporated virtual care and online services, but it might be more expensive.
Forty-five percent of the participants indicated that they would choose the digitally enabled plan despite the higher price tag. On average, they were willing to pay $25 more per month for these digital services.
Nevertheless, patients still value their face-to-face time with providers. When it came to which healthcare interactions they preferred, patients tended to gravitate toward non-digital responses.
As healthcare payers navigate consumerism in healthcare, consumer preferences can be difficult to pinpoint. To Goldman, the dichotomy within the survey — patients demonstrating investment in digital solutions but ultimately preferring personal healthcare interactions — underscored the importance of surveying consumers.
Successful payer initiatives, such as Blue Cross Blue Shield Michigan’s Virtual Well-Being Program, have shown that virtual methods can generate member engagement, but they can also be paired with in-person interactions for greater effectiveness.
"These findings highlight why we need rigorous survey techniques to really understand consumer preferences," said Goldman. "People will say they are interested in many features, but in the real world they must make tradeoffs with valuable premium dollars to meet their priorities.”
To Kehaly, the results speak to patients’ cost concerns.
"The survey tells us that, while respondents care about affordability, they also value quality time with their provider," said Kehaly. "We are working to better understand how to meet these priorities, using all the tools – including the exciting new technologies that are improving everyday – to make this happen.”
Members can feel unheard and unseen by their payers. According to a recent HealthMine survey, knowledge of and connection with members numbered among a few areas for improvement for some health plans. However, with surveys like BCBSAZ’s, payers can get a better grasp of what members are looking for and how to target their solutions.
