Fathom, a healthcare marketing agency, and Astute Solutions, a CRM and SRM software for marketing, explain how digital communications in healthcare is changing.

1. The Digital Patient Journey
By Fathom & Astute Solutions
With Research From Google

2. The Digital Patient Journey
“I have a recurring migraines and Google my
symptoms.”
“I use my phone to search for doctors nearby
and look at their hours.”
“I self diagnose and join a forum with “patients
like me” before talking to a doctor.”
“I am referred to a specialist and read her
reviews of Vitals.com.”
“I go home and join a Facebook page focusing
on research around my condition.”
“I ask about side effects to medication on a
private social network.”

3. Prospective Patients Use
Online Resources
Search, Social & Mobile
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Search is indispensable to the patient
journey
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Mobile is the patient’s constant companion
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8 in 10 healthcare inquiries start with a
search engine
3 in 4 Americans have performed a search
related to personal health
2013 is the year mobile traffic will eclipse
desktop
Social Media is playing a large role in
healthcare
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34% of consumers use social media to search
for health information

4. Prospective Patients Use
Online Resources
From the Pew Internet Project
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Healthcare terms are the 2nd most
searched topic in Google
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35% of U.S. adults say they have gone
online specifically to try to figure out what
medical condition they or someone else
might have.
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Half of the former followed up with a visit to
a medical professional

5. How does digital communication
impact healthcare providers?
82% of doctors refer to the Internet as
essential
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80% of physicians carry smartphones
50% of physicians report they use their
smartphones for data 5+ times per day
78% of US doctors use digital tools to gather
drugs and device intelligence
70% of doctors prefer online courses over
classroom continuing education
39% of physicians communicate with their
patients online
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6. Healthcare Organizations & Search
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77% of all patients use search prior to booking an appointment
53% of patients visit 2 or more hospital websites before converting
43% of visits to hospital sites originate from a search engine
28% of visitors to health and wellness websites are 55+
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7. Healthcare Organizations & Search
Patients are highly likely to search, highly likely to look for educational content
and highly likely to convert.
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8. The Importance Search Friendly
Content
Because search paths are so diverse, healthcare providers will want to “cover
their bases” by appearing in both types of search results.
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9. The Importance of Paid Search
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10. The Importance of Paid Search
81% of people click on a sponsored link when looking for health information
Educational content where patients gather builds trust
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11. Content Marketing is Critical to
Attracting Patients
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94% of patients said reputation of facility is important in hospital selection
Only 58% of healthcare marketers use blogs vs. 74% of all marketers
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12. The Importance of Digital Content
Marketing
When health information seekers encounter a pay wall, only 2% will pay the fee
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13. Digital Content is Important to
Better Patient Care
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53% of people say that
information they found online led
them to ask a doctor new
questions
60% of patients say they research
their prescriptions to understand
them better – and even decide
whether they will fill it.
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14. The Importance of Testimonials
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30% of Internet users have consulted online reviews or rankings of health
care services or treatments.
26% of Internet users have read or watched someone else’s experience
about health or medical issues in the past year.
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15. The State Of Video in 2013
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1 in 3 Americans watch video
online every day, representing
43.5 billion video views per month.
1 in 4 Americans have watched
an online video related to health.
74% of online searchers said video
was helpful to their search.
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16. Current State Of Video &
Healthcare
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375+ YouTube Channels from Healthcare providers
60% of patients active online say that watching a Web video
effected a personal medical decision
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17. The Importance of Video
Video speaks to patients and caregivers in a way that text cannot
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18. The Importance of Social Media
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21% of 18-to-24 year olds follow
healthcare providers on social
networks
 34% of consumers use
social media to search for
health information
 90% of adults age 18-24
said they would trust
medical information
shared by others in their
social networks
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19. The Importance of Social Media
Social builds a trusted brand and reputation, which is the #1
deciding factor for patients
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20. The Importance of Social Media
Healthcare providers recognize the value of social media
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21. The Importance of Mobile
31% of cellphone owners have used their phone to search for health info, Up
from 17% in 2010
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22. The Importance of Mobile
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Mobile users expect the experience to be seamless
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60% of smartphone users expect a mobile website to load in under 3 seconds
74% of smartphone users will leave a website if it doesn’t load in 5 seconds or
less
Every 1 second increase in load time causes on average:
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11% fewer page views
16% lower customer satisfaction
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23. Growing Trends for 2014
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Social Media
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Hospitals are live-tweeting procedures, emergency room wait times, crisis
information, and more
DIY Health
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Patients are taking a do-it-yourself approach to their own treatments, connecting
online through sites like Patientslikeme.com
More and more tools and “edutainment” devoted to healthcare at home, from
health/wellness to chronic illness
Currently a $1.7B industry,
projected to reach $6B by 2015
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24. Growing Trends for 2014
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Increased Focus on Mobile
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Only 9% of cellphone owners say they receive
texts about health-related issues
Direct Contact with Doctors Online
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Kaiser Permanente reported their doctors
receive 2.6 million emails per quarter
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25. Predictive Analytics
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Data set A is KNOWN event that has occurred and related to “hard”
number.. Patient admissions, Flu vaccines administered, ER activity.
Data set B is a KNOWN event that occurs in the Digital Space.
The more known instances of Point A and Point B that are available, the
more reliable a causal relationship becomes.
Stronger correlations = more accurate predications
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26. Predicting a Flu Outbreak
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Data set A is a data set indicating the most recent flu outbreaks.
Data set B is a data set including the activity around online activity related
to “fever” “absent from school” and “chills”
Both data sets are overlaid to find correlations
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Digital Signals
Flu Cases
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27. Predicting a Flu Outbreak
By monitoring conversations that have proven to be leading indicators, the
next outbreak can be predicted.
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Digital Signals
Flu Cases
40
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28. Predictive Analytics
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We all leave a tremendous digital footprint.. Who we are, what we
do, where we are, who we know.
In aggregate, this data can be used to identified very specific
trends
Hard data.. Stock prices, product sales, student enrollments, or flu
vaccines, can be correlated with this data
Large sampling sizes and repeated instances ensure data integrity
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29. Summary
Technology is at the intersection of patients and healthcare
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Technology removes the knowledge barriers in patients lives. Patients expect
access to information and use technology to take control of their healthcare
(or the healthcare of others)
Healthcare organizations and professionals see technology as essential to
connecting with patients, donors, referring physicians, media and the
community
Technology is moving quickly to connect patients with providers
Leveraging digital data can allow healthcare organizations to anticipate
events or trends
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