INSTANT INFO: 78% of wearable users say its practical for their doctors to access that information.
As digital health becomes more of a reality, a recent survey of over 2,000 US adults finds that most of us -- 84% to be exact -- see doctors who provide patient online portals.
One of the survey's most surprising findings is that 61% of older adults -- aged 55 and up -- access their health information through the portal, while just 45% of their younger counterparts in the 18 to 54 age group do so.
The survey found that 37% of those who own a wearable fitness tracker wear it everyday.
Of wearable users, 78% who use their devices more than once a month say it's practical for their doctors to access that information.
Sixty-four percent of adults would choose telehealth visits over in-person visits at least some of the time, especially for follow-up visits and for minor concerns such as eye infections and skin checks.
More than one quarter, or 27% said they would always choose a telehealth visit instead of an in-person visit.
Of parents with children under the age of 18 living under their roof, 76% said they would sometimes choose telehealth visits, whereas only 61% of those without children under the age of 18 said they would.
Sixty percent of respondents said they would use the online portal for appointment scheduling if it wasn't already available for this purpose.
The survey was conducted by eClinicalWorks, which also surveyed a group of 2,922 US healthcare professionals separately.
Seventy-five percent of healthcare professionals surveyed said online portals made it easy to share patient information with other doctors and allowed patients to access their medical health record with more ease than before.
Automated alerts and reminders about appointments were among the other benefits they cited at a rate of 75%.
Fifty-six percent of healthcare professionals said a top benefit of online portals is the ease of appointment scheduling.
Sixty-one percent of healthcare professionals said they would recommend telehealth visits to patients at least some of the time.
More than half of healthcare professionals said they found it useful to be able to access the information collected by patients' wearable devices. — AFP/RelaxNews
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