Are You Engaging Your Older Patients with Digital Care?
Did you know that older adults spend half of their leisure time online?1
Data shows that older adults are increasingly online and using smart devices in their daily lives, yet many are still being excluded from digital care due to the misconception that they won’t be able to access, relate to, or benefit from it.
In this article, we’ll debunk this common myth and explore why it’s so important to engage this population in their care online.
Technology Use Is Rising Significantly in Older Adults
Due to a combination of factors—from the COVID-19 pandemic to the demographic trend of global population aging—adults over 50 are using technology at higher rates than ever before. In fact, smartphone ownership has increased dramatically in recent years to 96 percent of adults between the ages of 50 and 65 and 75 percent of adults ages 65 and older.2 Also, 92 percent of adults over 50 use text to stay connected with others, 90 percent use email, 78 percent use social media, and 70 percent use video chat.3
Digital Care Benefits Older Adults—When They Can Access It
Even though older adults are using technology more often, they still experience frustration and even obstacles to access when they encounter technology that isn’t made with them in mind.
Making it as easy as possible for older patients to access health technologies is worth the effort, as research shows many benefits for this population, from higher patient satisfaction to improved outcomes due to easier access to care.4
Making Digital Care Inclusive and Accessible
To help your older patients engage with—and stay engaged with—digital technology, it’s important to ensure that your digital care tools and accompanying help materials are as accessible as possible for them.
To learn key best practices for educating patients and creating accessible help content, jump to our quick guide “How to Engage Older Adults with Digital Care.”
How MedBridge Helps
MedBridge Digital Patient Engagement Solution
Keep patients across the age spectrum motivated and activated with the comprehensive MedBridge Digital Patient Engagement Solution for Hospitals & Health Systems and Private Practice. Our best-in-class virtual patient engagement tools and evidence-based clinical and patient education are designed to improve communication and access to care, enhance patient self-efficacy, and increase patient activation and adherence.
MedBridge Remote Therapeutic Monitoring Solution
The MedBridge RTM Solution helps keep patients engaged in their care with robust engagement and patient monitoring tools combined with powerful, intuitive analytics and reporting. Designed to allow clinicians to get reimbursed for remote monitoring of Medicare patients, our RTM Solution is an effective, easy-to-use tool for improving engagement and outcomes in older adults while increasing patient retention and revenue.
Organizations partnering with MedBridge have:
- Reduced costs per care episode by as much as 47 percent
- Increased access to care, getting patients to their first appointment up to 2.5 days faster
- Consistently seen world-class NPS® ratings
- Reduced no-show and cancellation rates by as much as 15 percent
- Driven higher patient satisfaction, adherence, and loyalty
- Boosted referrals
References
- https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/06/18/americans-60-and-older-are-spending-more-time-in-front-of-their-screens-than-a-decade-ago/
- https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/01/13/share-of-those-65-and-older-who-are-tech-users-has-grown-in-the-past-decade/
- https://www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/research/surveys_statistics/technology/2021/2022-technology-trends-older-americans.doi.10.26419-2Fres.00493.001.pdf
- https://bmcgeriatr.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12877-021-02338-z
