BearingPoint has investigated patients’ digital experience, focusing on one of the most major illnesses – diabetes (type two). The study has been carried out from a patient perspective and included more than 1,300 patients from eight European countries - Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom. The patient journey that has served as base in this research includes four stages - from symptoms to a well-monitored disease: screening & prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring.
The study reveals the digital experience of type two diabetes patients and indicates the level of their digital maturity and expectations on health care. Within our defined patient journey, the monitoring dimension scores the highest overall – but only with a sufficient grade. Other results are highlighted as follows:
- Diabetes costs account for 10-15 percent of the total health care budget. A large portion of these costs are due to diabetes complications. If patients have good control of their blood glucose level, the risk of complications is reduced. This makes it vital to increase the adoption of connected medical device products for monitoring purposes, as these products are considered valuable in their treatment, according to patients in Europe overall. The score for monitoring is also higher than for digital tools used during treatment.
- The use of digital tools within both education and treatment planning increases the overall satisfaction for diabetes care. There are some reoccurring differences between the countries in the survey, where people in the Nordics are generally less satisfied with digital diabetes care, while patients in Ireland give digital tools high scores.
- Patients’ responses indicate that the functionalities of the digital tool used during their treatment differs significantly between the countries. In general, patients are able to find trusted health care information, but beyond that there are different best practices and focus areas – from chatbots to information tailored to an individual patient’s needs.
- There is generally little resistance to sharing data with care providers, even early on in the patient journey. The digital tool is there, as is the willingness to share data, and the digital maturity of the patient is high – providing a clear opportunity for care providers to leverage data to create high-quality diabetes care.
According to our study 55 percent of the patients can share their data with care providers today. Given the speed of digitalization this percentage will surely increase in the coming years making data a valuable asset in the involvement of the patient in his own treatment and as a basis for discussion with the care providers to adapt and individualize the treatment. In this way, care can be both more equal and cost-effective.
—Per Yhde, Partner, BearingPoint Sweden—
