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U.S. health consumers are roughly split 40/40 when it comes to AI analyzing personal health data to provide personalized advice, with 21% feeling neutral about that. But using AI for regular health updates and guiding us through a pre- or post-care medical journey would be welcome by one in two people, we learn in how to Unlock patient loyalty: New healthcare consumer insights, Huron Consulting Group’s consumer research report polling 1,500 U.S. healthcare consumers.

Start with peoples’ top reasons for switching health care providers, along with main barriers preventing consumers from receiving care.

These mainly have to do with convenience and time to get appointments, followed by trust and reliability, and health care costs/affordability and transparency in billing.

If consumers are looking around for a new health care provider, the top source of truth for that are referrals from primary care providers and other health care professionals — cited by about 1 in 2 U.S. consumers. Another one-third of people look to recommendations from family and friends. 1 in 4 consumers check out online reviews and ratings from patients, as well as health care providers’ websites or online presences.

Huron has been tracking consumers’ adoption of digital health apps and devices in the past couple of survey reports. Here is a link to my post written from last year’s research, where I observe growth in the following areas:

• Online portals, increased use from 44% last year to 49% this year, and,
• Telehealth or virtual visits, up to 30% from 28%.

Interestingly, the use of apps for tracking fitness and exercise, wearable devices to track, and texting with physician offices have remained flat or marginally fallen in adoption.

Consumers are getting more comfortable with the use of AI in health care, with greater embrace of the technology for receiving health updates and guiding folks through health care journeys, as noted in the introduction of this post.

When it comes to personalization, though, only 1 in 3 consumers say they would be willing to use AI. The same one-third would be willing to use AI for managing chronic conditions or for undergoing rehab/physical therapy.

Here’s a further reflection on that statistic regarding personalized health and managing chronic conditions. At least one-half of consumers told Huron that they would be interesting in “using personal data to predict risk” for heart and cardiovascular health and cancer. Just under one-half of people would do so for predicting risk for diabetes, respiratory conditions, neurological issues, and orthopedic conditions.

Health Populi’s Hot Points:  The throughline of the Huron research focuses on patient loyalty, which translates into retention and practice growth for clinicians.

Huron offers three tactics to bolster patient loyalty:

1. To provide easier access to care, designing an enchanting digitally-enabled experience as well as serving up cost transparency and flexible scheduling;
2. To create personalized, timely communications, which is where AI can really help tailor messaging to the N of 1 patient; and,
3. To balance digital investments, given that about 2 in 3 patients self-identify as a digitally-empowered and -interested patient-consumer.

Coupling the growing digitization of platforms that are building bridges between patients and providers, those responsible for designing and deploying the technology must keep privacy, security, and equity front-of-mind. The more digitized the on-ramps become, the more patients have angst and concerns about their personal data security and potential breaches.

As an essay I read earlier today in PYMNTS where Karen Webster, PYMNTS CEO, asserts in its title message, “Trust is data’s only real currency.”

The post To Garner Patient Loyalty, Focus on Convenience, Availability, and Affordability. Consumers Trust AI to Help the Journey. appeared first on HealthPopuli.com.