Perhaps Accenture’s Surveyed Consumers So Willing To Share Healthcare Data Should Read Accenture’s CyberSecurity Survey Report

By Clive Riddle, March 9, 2018 Accenture has just released a 12-page report with findings from their 2018 Consumer Survey on Digital Health in which they conclude that “Growing consumer demand for digital-based health services is ushering in a new model for care in which patients and machines are joining doctors as part of the healthcare delivery team, and that  “consumers are becoming more accepting of machines — ranging from artificial intelligence (AI), to virtual clinicians and home-based diagnostics — having a significantly greater role in their overall medical care. “ Here’s some survey response highlights shared in the report: ·         19% have already used AI-powered healthcare services, with 66% of these consumers likely to use AI-enabled clinical services ·         Consumer use of mobile and tablet health apps has increased from 16% in 2014 to 48% currently. ·         44% have accessed their electronic health records in patient portals over the past year, with 67% of these consumers seeking information on lab and blood-test results; 55% viewing physician notes regarding medical visits, and 41% looking up their prescription history ·         The use of wearable devices by consumers has increased from 9% in 2014 to 33%t currently. ·         75% view wearables  as beneficial to understanding their health condition; while 73% cite them helping engage with their health, and 73% also cite monitoring the health of a loved one ·         90% are willing to share personal data with their doctor, and 88% are willing to share personal data with a nurse or other healthcare professional. ·         72% are willing today to share with their insurance carrier personal data collected from their wearable devices has increased over the past year, compared to from 63% in 2016. ·         47% are willing so share such data and with online communities or other app users today, compared with 38% in 2016. ·         38% are willing to share data with their employer  and 41% with a government agency Interestingly while consumers seem to trust sharing their data most with their doctor and clinical professionals much more than their health plan, another Accenture survey recently released on healthcare cybersecurity found that while overall 18% of healthcare organization employees were willing to sell confidential data to unauthorized parties for as little as between $500 and $1,000; there was considerable disparity between plans and provider offices: 21% from provider organizations would sell confidential data compared to 12% from payer organizations.