August 19, 2015

57% of U.S. broadband households with children access at least one health portal per month

Healthcare leaders to discuss personalized consumer engagement and the roles of service providers in sessions at Connected Health Summit

New digital health research from Parks Associates finds 50% of all U.S. broadband households use at least one healthcare portal per month, but only approximately one-fourth of these users conduct more than one activity per month. Parks Associates will address healthcare portal use alongside consumer segmentation research during the firm’s second-annual Connected Health Summit: Engaging Consumers, September 9-10 in San Diego, to provide actionable intelligence for service providers and healthcare companies to better engage their customers.

The firm finds households with children are much more likely than those without to use specific online health services regularly, including twice as likely to access personal health data, schedule medical appointments, and view test or lab results on a health portal.

“Many care providers, insurers, and health and wellness players are rolling out new online sites and digital tools to assist consumers in better managing their health,” said Jennifer Kent, Director, Research Quality & Product Development, Parks Associates. “However, our research from Patient Portal: Engaging Consumers reveals engaging consumers is not a one-size-fits-all task. Consumer use and interest in online health portals vary by age, gender, the presence of children in the home, and use of digital health devices.”

For example, 13% of U.S. broadband households with children at home use a real-time video consultation with an online doctor or nurse at least monthly, compared to only 4% of those without children, according to Parks Associates.

At Connected Health Summit, executives from Eliza Corporation, Higi, Lumiata, and mPulse Mobile will share strategies for engaging consumers with a more personalized approach in the panel session “Personalizing the Consumer Experience: Challenges and Best Practices,” Wednesday, September 9, at 10:45 a.m.

• Ash Damle, Founder and CEO, Lumiata
• Chris Nicholson, CEO, mPulse Mobile
• Ralph Perfetto, Ph.D., Chief Analytics Officer, Eliza Corporation
• Dr. Khan Siddiqui, Chief Medical Officer & Chief Technology Officer, Higi

"Each of us seeks personalized, real-time health and care experiences. And yet, we live in a world of connected devices, but disconnected data," said Ash Damle, Founder and CEO of Lumiata. "The exciting opportunity is to deliver analytics that elevate data in a way that is more human - one that is contextual, anticipatory and interactive."

"Healthcare continues to lag other sectors related to personalization and consumer engagement, even with over $6 billion in new investment flowing into the mHealth space in 2014 alone,” said Chris Nicholson, CEO of mPulse Mobile. “We are seeing several bright spots and effective methods that are gaining traction and delivering outcomes. The landscape is shifting quickly, and we are excited to share some of these market trends that will enable an improved healthcare experience."

“The challenge of getting people to manage their medical condition or engage in more healthy behavior isn’t necessarily due to a lack of technology or access to digital content -- there are countless websites, portals, social media outlets, and mHealth apps out there. The real science behind consumer health engagement lies in our ability to break through the noise and connect with people in personalized ways – inspiring them to act in their own way, on their own terms, via their preferred technology,” said Ralph Perfetto, Chief Analytics Officer at Eliza Corporation.  “To help people navigate their own paths toward optimal health, we all need to leverage each and every communication channel out there that works – collaborating and sharing information in ways that help people, as well as the healthcare organizations that serve them, achieve desired goals and improve outcomes.”

"It takes more than engagement to improve health outcomes,” said Dr. Khan Siddiqui, Chief Medical Officer & Chief Technology Officer, Higi. “We must focus on empowerment. At Higi we know the best way to help people live healthier lives is to empower them with personally meaningful data, content and rewards that make healthier choices second nature.  Individuals, when armed with their health data because it’s easy to collect and manage, can make meaningful improvements in their health that may lead to lasting behavior change.”

Registration is open, and media are invited to secure a press pass. For more information about Connected Health Summit visit, www.connectedhealthsummit.com. Follow the conference on Twitter at @CONN_Health_Smt and #ConnectedHealth15. To schedule a meeting with an analyst or speaker, contact Holly Sprague at hsprague@gmail.com, 720.987.6614.

About Connected Health Summit: Consumer Engagement and Innovation

Connected Health Summit, hosted by international research firm Parks Associates, is an executive conference focused on the impact of connected devices and IoT healthcare solutions on consumers at home. In its ninth year, Connected Health Summit brings senior industry leaders together from all aspects of the consumer experience ecosystems to provide insights on new business models, IoT technologies, consumer behaviors, and deployments relevant to consumer healthcare solutions.

The conference features Parks Associates quarterly consumer readdresses opportunities for new solutions in the care giving and senior markets and the wellness markets. This includes smart home platforms, on-demand services, voice assistants, and wearables, to empower consumers, caregivers, and providers and to meet the growing demand for services in independent living, chronic care management, remote access to care, and wellness and fitness solutions. www.connectedhealthsummit.com

Follow the event on Twitter at @CONN_Health_Smt.