According to a study from Healthcare Market Research and advisory firm Manhattan Research, digital health activities are becoming increasingly multi-screen. While online health activities are still primarily desktop or laptop-based in 2012, mobile and tablet health activity adoption continues to accelerate.
Some of the study findings include:
- The number of U.S. adults (ages 18+) using mobile phones for health information and tools grew from 61 million in 2011 to 75 million in 2012.
- Tablet health activity adoption doubled from 15 million to 29 million in the same time period.
- Nearly half of online consumers aged 55 and older who own or use a tablet are using these devices for health information or tools.
- Multi-screen health users move between devices: Among the 15 percent of online consumers who have three devices (tablets, smartphones and desktops/laptops) and use at least one of them for a health activity, 60 percent are using all three screens for online health information and tools.
“Growing ownership of connected devices and the access to digital health tools and information they provide is helping to drive the broader shift from intermittent to continuous care,” said Monique Levy, Vice President of Research at Manhattan Research. “This trend shows vast potential for changing key dynamics of healthcare delivery, including patient engagement, provider involvement, and how preventive care is incentivized.”
Consumer & Professional Healthcare reports:
- Nearly 92 million adults own a smartphone and about half of these owners (45.7 million) use their phones to look up health and wellness information.
- Slightly over 32 million adults currently own a tablet with 59% (19 million) of them looking up healthcare information on their tablets in the past month.
How are these digital health information seekers using their devices?
- Most of them are looking up symptoms they’re experiencing.
- About 1 in 3 are looking up drug information while at the doctor or pharmacy.
- Close to half are monitoring exercise or calories.
Will tablets and smartphones replace the PC/laptop?
Almost 3 out of 4 people of these “health info seekers” use their mobile device to look up health and wellness information while they’re at home.
