One consequence of the aging population is the increased demand for healthcare, placing a greater burden on healthcare providers. At the same time, digital channels are becoming the preferred means of accessing data and services for the most part.
It's no secret that people are living longer and that the global population is expanding. According to the most recent United Nations DESA report, the world's population is expected to increase a billionfold by 2025, with 300 million people aged 65 or older.
Enabled by the availability of the communication platform as a service (CPaaS) that provides messaging, voice, and video through a simple API integration, healthcare providers are starting to respond by offering apps that provide routine medical services such as booking appointments. Increasingly, video calls they are offered as a way to speed up the consultation process.
Bupa, for example, offers its clients video consultations with qualified doctors via an app.
Elsewhere, the UK's National Health Service (NHS) recently introduced a similar service: GP at Hand, an app that allows users to schedule appointments via video calls or text messages. This shift to digital is effectively easing the burden on frontline healthcare providers. Our recent research explored the role of video in this shift in more detail.
Research from our sister company Sinch found that video calling is already becoming part of the communications mix; with 67% of surveyed businesses using video often or sometimes, 69% of which were in the healthcare sector, but only 19% of surveyed healthcare providers said they were likely to adopt video calling in the next 24 months.
The report also indicates that there is an unmet consumer demand for video consultations.
Respondents were asked which type of organization they would most prefer to interact with via video call, and healthcare came out on top, with 23% of consumers thinking it was a good idea – the next closest industry sector was banking at 8%.
The reasons for preferring a video call (across all sectors) were mixed, but four response categories were almost equally popular, providing insight into why patients prefer video over other digital channels. 38% said it would provide a more personal service, 38% said it would save time, 36% wanted to see facial expressions, and 37% said it would resolve questions right now. These are all good reasons to see a doctor face-to-face, demonstrating how easily video could replace seeing a doctor in person.
There's another important reason why video calls are well-suited to healthcare services. It's widely recognized that one in five consumers self-diagnoses health problems via search engines, usually because they've been unable to get a doctor's appointment. The risk of misdiagnosis, lack of access to medical history, and the pitfalls of unverified information can obviously be disastrous. Our research indicates that patients prefer the accuracy of a professional diagnosis—45% stated that video calling would prevent them from self-diagnosing.
