Plus, it's expensive. Over half of professionals and patients (52 percent and 51 percent, respectively) said connected care technology would increase the cost of health care overall — including concerns regarding associated training and data security expenses.

Still, sizeable majorities of both patients and health care professionals surveyed (69 percent and 85 percent, respectively) believe integrated health systems can improve the quality of care for patients, and most health care professionals (88 percent) agree that integration can have a direct positive impact on the health of the population.


The Future Health Index yielded a variety of other interesting findings.

For all the readiness of emerging markets to adopt integrated care, those populations still lack access to needed medical treatment compared to those in developed markets. Roughly three-quarters of health care professionals in developed markets said access was available compared to only 60 percent in emerging markets.

While 60 percent of patients surveyed owned or used connected care technologies, data sharing continues to be a challenge as only one-third of them had shared that information with a health care professional.

"If you look at the findings of the study on how difficult it is to actually get access to data then I think that’s where we all need to start," said Van Houten.

Perhaps not surprisingly, younger patients and less-experienced health care professionals alike said they were more likely to use, and share information from, connected technology. Over half (57 percent) of patients aged 18-34 report that they own at least one health monitoring device, and one-quarter (25 percent) feel they are knowledgeable about connected care technology, versus only 14 percent of those aged 55 and older.

The demand for integrated EHRs that automate and simplify the patient record is also going unmet, meaning care systems continue to waste resources with redundant data entry and protocols. In total, 74 percent of patients surveyed reported having to enter the same information to multiple health care professionals, and 60 percent had repeatedly taken the same tests.

A clear majority of patients surveyed (69 percent) felt they could effectively manage their own health, while only 40 percent of physicians agreed with them. "In the U.S. we talk often about consumers taking accountability for their own health," said Van Houten of these statistics, "are doctors not trusting the patients or do they believe the patients cannot do well? It’s not a definitive answer."

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