Laughlin Constable Survey Shows Further Fragmentation of Healthcare

Laughlin Constable, the independent, full-service brand experiences agency, today released findings from its 13th annual Healthcare Pulse survey demonstrating further fragmentation of America’s healthcare delivery services and the public’s acceptance and anticipated adoption of even more fragmentation as big tech plays a larger role. 

“For more than a decade, we have been studying consumers’ views of and desires from healthcare in order to help our healthcare clients best communicate about and meet those needs, and the changes over time have been astounding,” said Katy Gajewicz, chief strategy officer for Laughlin Constable. “The healthcare world has changed, and more change is coming as consumers demand personalised care but on their terms. They want easy access, but care personalised to them, which means leveraging a suite of healthcare options and finding the right use cases for each.” 

The national survey is a quantified view of healthcare consumers’ criteria, perceptions, and behaviours throughout their healthcare journey.  

This year’s most telling findings focus on consumers’ desires and willingness to embrace newer modes of service delivery while changing their perceptions and use of more established modes. For example: 

• Almost half of consumers (47.3%) have considered seeking medical care outside of their primary care physician, with Millennials showing the greatest likelihood to do so (59%). 

• Telehealth and retail clinics have found footing as consumer healthcare options with 81% of consumers citing comfortability utilising both access points. This has been a gradual increase in consumer comfortability since 2019 when 67.3% were comfortable with telehealth and 76.9% were comfortable with retail clinics.  

• Big tech companies’ health services will soon further disrupt the healthcare landscape. While health service initiatives from Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Apple have not seen complete adoption yet, about two thirds of respondents (62.9%) say they would be comfortable using their services. These numbers reflect similar early adoption levels for telehealth and retail clinics, suggesting that America is in the early stages of adoption of big tech health services and that they will likely have a permanent place in the healthcare ecosystem.

• Personalised healthcare, defined as a tailored approach that addresses consumers’ unique needs and accompanied by personalised interactions with their physicians, is a key factor for younger generations. Gen z and Millennials both rank “personalised care” among the top three critical factors when selecting a hospital. Only a highly qualified physician and a clean and organised environment rank higher. 

• When asked how they want their data shared with their physician, there was an increase in the number of respondents who want to actively opt in to sending their data to their physicians (from 42.1% to 48.2%). Conversely, fewer people now desire having their data from wearables automatically sent to their physicians (from 55.8% to 50%). 

The 2023 Healthcare Pulse Report by Laughlin Constable is based on data collected July 2023 via an online survey of 1,200+ healthcare decision makers across the nation. Using decades of experience in the healthcare marketing field, Laughlin Constable’s goal of the report is to help healthcare systems and its marketers confidently create messaging, content and programs that resonate with today’s consumers.  

“We intentionally explore healthcare consumers’ views, beliefs, feelings and preferences and couple that with our experience in healthcare marketing to service our clients as well as share that insight more broadly,” said Gajewicz. “This is a pulse on the healthcare marketplace and over our 13 years of research we’ve seen a shift toward proactive healthcare engagement where technology serves as a tool to enable individuals to take charge of their well-being in a convenient and informed manner.” 

To download this year’s full report, visit here. 

Historically, Laughlin Constable’s Pulse report has focused on timely topics and uncovered insights related to costs and price transparency, generational influencers, and the quest for personalised care.