Technology needs faster adoption in healthcare - 5 takeaways from Dreamforce 2015

We took some time out last week to hop on the BART and check out Dreamforce 2015, which is an annual conference put on by Salesforce in San Francisco. The event itself was impressive: Over 170,000 attendees flocked to SF and there was even a cruise ship that docked at Pier 27 to handle overflow. This post is about 5 healthcare technology trends we learned about during Dreamforce 2015.

Trend 1: Satisfaction is Not Enough

In a presentation put on by Joshua Newman, Chief Medical Officer at Salesforce, he shared the results of a survey of 1700 adults with health insurance and a primary care physician. Although 92% of respondents indicated they are satisfied with their primary care physician, 43% also responded they had changed doctors in the last 10 years. One explanation for the seemingly diametric results is the convergence of technology, regulations and growing patient expectations. The end result is that healthcare if shifting towards the patient.

Trend 2: Technology Needs Faster Adoption

While healthcare is shifting towards the patient, technology needs faster adoption. As you can see from the slide above, only 6% of those surveyed use email to setup an appointment with their physician.

Another shocking data point was the fact that only 12% of respondents said they use email for obtaining test results. It seems as if the healthcare industry is the last American business sector to use email for work.

Trend 3: Where's the Preventative Care Love?

Another low use statistic for email in healthcare is the use of communication between doctor and patient. As you can see from the above slide, only 7% of those surveyed said they use email to manage preventive care with their doctor.

Trend 4: Millennials Expect Change

The fourth trend we saw is the rise of the Millennials and their technology expectations. Oftentimes these are what's known as the connected patient, someone who is a heavy user of technology and expects to use it in a healthcare setting.

Trend 5: Evolution to Patient Relationships

The fifth trend we saw is the evolution of patient relationships in healthcare technology, or Patient Relationship Management (PRM). With advent of federal regulations such as HIPAA and the Affordable Care Act, increased patient expectations, and new technology, we can see that healthcare is shifting towards the patient and their needs.

Q&A

During Q&A, I asked Joshua why the numbers were so low for email usage among healthcare providers and patients. He told us he felt email portals are falling short: "They (email portals) aren't well built." And there you have it, the 5 healthcare technology trends we learned about during Dreamforce 2015.