Millennials, born between 1981 and 1996, are the first generation to grow up with technology integrated into everything they do. Their phones always at the ready, millennials expect a direct, convenient way to receive and interact with information. They see value in digital services that make their lives simpler.

When it comes to their healthcare, 45% of millennials don’t have a primary care physician, according to a 2018 Kaiser Family Foundation poll. This group tends to get care on an episodic basis, visiting retail and urgent care clinics for illness and turning to online sources for health-related questions.

Millennials are also starting families, accounting for 82% of U.S. births in 2016 and raising the total number of first-time moms in this generation to 17 million. How should healthcare best engage this huge new population of moms? What changes are necessary to accommodate their expectations of a digital society?

Wasteful spending in healthcare amounts to incredibly high costs for U.S. hospitals. Preventable hospital readmissions and unnecessary emergency department (ED) visits alone account for $25 billion and $14 billion, respectively, in excess healthcare spending each year, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Health Research Institute.  

The latest hospital star ratings, recently released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), include some high-performing hospitals that make patient engagement a high priority. 

Should You Have an App for That?

I talk to a lot of executives and clinicians about engaging and educating patients. They overwhelmingly want to know how to best reach today’s consumers with health information. As I talk about interactive, mobile messaging, a common question is, “Do you have an app for that?”

When thinking about using a downloadable app, the questions I always ask are: Will patients use it? Will it capture their attention and engage them to come back for more next week? Will it be easy for them? With 77% of Americans using smartphones, it’s important to understand how people use apps in their daily lives to understand their potential impact on patient engagement.