Australians overwhelmingly want an e-Health record system, abandoning concerns over privacy in order to make their lives easier.
In a new report, titled A Rising Tide of Expectations, consumers were found to be ready and waiting for the government to deliver an individual e-health record – what they see as a basic Australian right.
In March this year, CSC (a company with an interest in delivering e-Health solutions to government) commissioned an independent, national Newspoll phone survey of 1208 Australian consumers to understand how important they believe it is to have an individual e-health record. The report found that 91 percent of participants want to see their healthcare data in one place.
The report also found that almost 90 percent of participants actively make an effort to improve and maintain their health already while 86 percent personally keep a record of some type of medical information. This is an important signal to small business owners in health and well being industries, being able to tap into this personal e-Health record keeping when delivering your services is likely to create a stronger and higher lifetime value relationship with your clients. Ironically, Australians also feel they are effectively maintaining or improving their health despite increasing rates of chronic disease and obesity.
Australians want e-Health, but don’t want to pay for the service. With 88 percent of Australians felt that it was either the Federal or State governments’ responsibility to contribute financially to the cost of individual e-health records.
The CSC report found that 27 percent of respondents are willing to pay on average almost $50 annually for an individual e-health record. However, a startling 70 percent of Australians are not willing to pay anything.
“Consumers now expect e-health records and expect the basic foundations to be funded as part of the health system, primarily, and convincingly, by governments, with contributions from others such as health insurers,” said Lisa Pettigrew, director of health services for CSC in Australia.
