HealthMine 2016 Survey Data Reveals Massive Amounts of Health Information But Little Insight

DALLAS, Jan. 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- According to HealthMine's research, conducted with 2,500 consumers enrolled in health plans in 2016, plan members are missing real-time personal health insight necessary to maintain or improve their health.

Bryce Williams, CEO and President of HealthMine said: "American consumers collect massive amounts of data about their health, yet there's a huge gap between information and meaningful insights to guide individuals to the right actions to improve personal health. That gap contributes to America spending twice as much on healthcare as other developed nations. Health Intelligence is the technology solution that will enable us to close the gap."

Health Intelligence facilitates better health outcomes and lowers healthcare costs by providing: 1) insight into health status and risk, 2) clinical guidance on necessary health actions, 3) personalized motivation to close gaps in care and 4) measurement of outcomes.

HealthMine consumer surveys in 2016 revealed that a lack of Health Intelligence is preventing members from improving their health:

Consumers' Digital Health Data Is Often Going Nowhere
Despite the growing adoption of activity trackers, smart watches and other internet-connected health technologies, nearly half (46%) of Americans who use digital health tools say the data collected by these tools is not incorporated into their healthcare. Three quarters (75%) of consumers who use mobile/internet-connected health applications are willing to share the data they collect with their doctor/healthcare provider, but only 32% say this happens automatically.

Consumers with Chronic Conditions Missing Actionable Data and Tools
Thirty-nine percent of consumers with heart disease report difficulty managing their illness/risk and 46% of those individuals say that knowing the right actions to take is the most difficult aspect of managing their condition.

Three quarters (74%) of those who do use an activity tracker report the device is helping them cope with their heart condition. But just 16% of people with known heart conditions are using an activity tracker at all to manage their disease/risk.

Wellness Programs Not Leveraging Data to Better Manage Disease
Nearly half of consumers (44%) enrolled in wellness programs report having a diagnosed chronic condition. However, just 14% of respondents say that their wellness program helps them better manage their disease. Only 29% of respondents report that their wellness program offers a disease management program. And just 6% say they have connected a disease management application/tool to their wellness program.

Few Using Electronic Medical Records to Help Make Medical Decisions
60% of consumers who use digital health tools say they have an electronic health record. But most are accessing their health record to simply "stay informed." Only 22% of digital health users are accessing EHRs to help make medical decisions.

Many Still Haven't Heard of Telemedicine, or Don't Know When to Use It
93% of consumers who used telemedicine say it lowers their healthcare costs. But 39% of consumers who use mobile/internet-connected health applications still have not heard of telemedicine. More than a quarter of consumers (28%) simply don't know when it is appropriate to use telemedicine versus traditional medicine.

Many Don't Know How to Make Health Changes, Despite Higher Healthcare Costs
Nearly half (45%) of consumers say they haven't changed the way they manage their health. This is despite the fact that 9 out of 10 consumers believe their health could be better, and 40% say their healthcare costs are rising. In fact, 17% are skipping medication doses and 35% are going to the doctor less often, highlighting that more guidance may be needed to make meaningful choices.

"Health information has not yet fundamentally changed how health plan sponsors manage populations because it is not yet producing insight. If 2016 was the year of health data, 2017 must be the year of Health Intelligence," Williams concluded.

About HealthMine
HealthMine is a leading healthcare technology company that delivers Health Intelligence for plan members and plan sponsors.  HealthMine's cloud-based Health Intelligence Solution facilitates better health outcomes and lowers healthcare costs by providing: 1) insight into health status and risk, 2) clinical guidance on necessary health actions, 3) personalized motivation to close gaps in care and 4) measurement of outcomes. The Health Intelligence Solution derives business value from all clinical and lifestyle health data including data from existing wellness programs. HealthMine has more than 1 million users and has saved health plan sponsors more than $100 million in healthcare costs. HealthMine is on the web at www.healthmine.com.

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SOURCE HealthMine