The Journal of mHealth Vol 1 Issue 1 (Feb 2014) | Page 25

Cisco Study: 74% of Consumers Open to Virtual Doctor Visit

IN-PERSON VS. VIRTUAL
CUSTOMER SERVICE
The report findings challenged
the assumption that face-to-face
interaction is always the preferred
health care experience. While consumers still depend heavily on inperson medical treatments, given
a choice between virtual access
to care and human contact, three
quarters of patients and citizens
would choose access to care and
are comfortable with the use of
technology for the clinician interaction.
Key findings:
» Three quarters of consumers
indicate they are comfortable
with the idea of communicating with doctors using technology instead of seeing them in
person.
»

»

»

In China, Russia and Mexico,
nearly three-quarters of consumers would be comfortable
communicating with a specialist using virtual technology
(e.g. video chatting, text messaging) for a health condition.
More than 60 percent of consumers from Germany, Japan
and the U.S. indicate being
comfortable with the idea of
being treated by a specialist using virtual technology.
Patients and citizens will give
up anything, including cost,
convenience and travel, to be
treated at a perceived leading
health care provider to gain
access to trusted care and expertise.

HOW MUCH DO
CONSUMERS AND
HCDMS RELY ON
TECHNOLOGY?
As machines become connected
and networked, they play an even
larger role in the overall health care
experience. Interest in accessing
health information on mobile devices is growing rapidly and is the
No. 1 topic of consumer interest
In Mexico, Brazil and China.
Key findings:
» About 4 in 10 consumers indicate they would be interested
in receiving recommendations about doctors, hospitals,
medication, etc., automatically
through their computer or mobile devices.
»

While the majority of consumers who have health care
apps on their mobile devices
indicate their apps are related
to healthy eating and exercise,
25 percent indicate they are for
chronic disease management.

» Nearly one in four indicates
receiving health-related reminders on their device.
“The patient and care provider
experiences are top of mind in
health care around the world.
Due to the increasing convergence of the digital and physical,
there is an opportunity to provide
increased collaboration and information sharing among providers
to improve the care experience
and operate more efficiently,” said
Kathy English, Public Sector and
Healthcare Marketing, Cisco. 

23
The Journal of mHealth