Survey by American Well shows over half of senior citizens embrace telehealth
Nathan Eddy recently wrote an article about the results of a survey issued by American Well, a notable telemedicine company. This survey was taken by 400 American senior citizens, people 65 years old or older. The respondents were asked about their opinions on telehealth technology. The results were pretty shocking.
Over half of the respondents recorded that they embraced the use of telehealth. Almost three-quarters of respondents stated access to faster healthcare service as the main reason why they embraced the new technology.
Over half of the respondents saw telehealth as a way to save money and time.
Almost all of the respondents who favored telehealth (84 percent) recorded that they would use it to renew their prescriptions. Over two-thirds of the seniors said they would use the technology to manage their chronic conditions.
“As the data shows, seniors are incredibly willing to embrace technology for their healthcare needs, which often requires more personal, higher touch, coordinated care,” stated Daniella Rusella, the President of Health Plan Solutions for American Well. “This is an exciting time, as both seniors and patients at large, increasingly leverage technology to experience healthcare in the home.”
Recently, the Federal Communications Commission released $100 million in funding for the Connected Care Pilot Program. This program would spread telehealth accessibility for low-income citizens across the country.
The FCC has estimated that the expansion of the use of remote patient telehealth technology could potentially save the American healthcare system $305 billion each year. The benefit is not just monetary, it also adds value to the care of patients.
Last month, NVNA and Hospice stated that their telehealth and remote patient monitoring resulted in a 40% reduction in hospital readmissions for its palliative care patients.
Many people believe that senior citizens will be resistant to telehealth. However, the results of this survey and the FCC funding point to the importance of telehealth, even for senior citizens.