A survey spanning 3 years by Rock Health on 4000 U.S residents, to assess their usage and opinions on digital health, revealed that 87% of Americans were using a minimum of one digital health service in 2017 as compared to 80% in 2015.

 “With data from 2015 to 2017, we see a clear upward trend of consumers taking control of their healthcare via the use of digital tools like telemedicine, wearables, and online provider reviews,” Rock Health researchers Megan Zweig, Jen Shen, and Lou Jug mentioned. “… But the needle has not moved equally across every subgroup of the population — nor across every type of digital health solution. … So while digital health solutions promise impactful, even life-altering outcomes for patients, consumers are still transitioning to testing out — and sustainably integrating — these solutions into their lives.”

The survey revealed that online health information was used by 79% of the population while 58% accessed online provider reviews, both services being used the most. However, only 24% used mobile tracking and wearables and live video telemedicine usage stood at 19%. Every service usage has gone up each year barring wearables which remained stagnant at 24% and telemedicine which experienced a fall from 22% in 2016.

Probing into the experience with telemedicine, the survey found that 91% of people, who spent on it, were “moderately” or “extremely” content and 62% of people who didn’t spend money, were satisfied.

It was discovered that 54% of people used wearables in 2017 to increase their physical activity while 40% used it for weight loss and 24% for enhanced sleep and 18% for stress management. Additional findings showed that self-health tracking was largely devoid of digitalization among the population.