Six things to get right before promoting a solution to practitioners
Digital health remains a new area. History has it that any new clinical research takes around 17 years to make it into clinical practice guidelines. It therefore comes as no surprise that the uptake of digital health is rather slow across the globe. Apart from Electronic health records, having a digital- first approach has not gone mainstream yet.
Based on are recent survey of 1800 US consumers by Accenture areas where digital adoption has increased include 2020 vs 2021):
- Electronic health records (from 7% to 32%)
- Telehealth
- Remote monitoring
However adoption was low for mobile/tablet apps, wearables and healthcare communities.
Reasons for low adoption centred around lack of trust owing to privacy and security concerns.
People would be more likely to adopt digital technologies if:
1. A provider recommended them (33%)
2. If they felt more confident in data security and privacy (30%) and
3. If these technologies enabled them to receive better information about their health (30%).
In Personalised nutrition, the story is not very different. According to recent research nutrition professionals were more likely to recommend apps if; They were free, easy to use, were evidence based and if they were used by peers (2)
Another study demonstrated that the most common apps used by nutrition professionals were in fact Myfitnesspal and LoseIt (3)
Therefore for companies looking to have their Personalised nutrition solution recommended by a healthcare practitioners we offer 6 top tips:
1. Communicate how you prioritize client privacy and securing their data.
This needs to go beyond a disclaimer and a tick box form. Create short video´s demonstrate what privacy looks like in practice. Offer the explanation in different formats such as downloadable, dedicated webpage and audio.
2. Provide use cases and easy access to referrals
Be transapernt about how and where your personalised nutrition is currently used. By providing examples of health concerns, clinical conditions and evidence of where using the digital tool has made a difference, will help practitioners to match the ideal patient in an easy way with the personalised nutrition solution.
3. Provide evidence
Practitioners are very weary of solutions that have not been tested in the real world setting. Whilst a double-blind randomised controlled trial is not necessary, demonstrating that you have done your homework regarding useability testing, satisfaction and adherence at 30 days is aleardy a way to show it´s potential
4. Resources - Stay top of mind
Use emails, newsletters and blogs to update practitioners on new use cases, new features and updates on the tool. Practitioners are busy, so when they right patient appears, they will be ready to recommend.
5. Offer a free trial
It sounds obvious, but a practitioner is highly unlikely to recommend a tool they have not used themselves. Offering a free trial as well as a to their client is one way of geting important feedback to understand how the solutions can and will be integrated.
6. Consider pricing
Business models are rather important in healthcare. Practitioners need to include the rpicing of any tools into their own consultation fees, which means that there is price elasticity. If competitors charge less, the fear that the patient will look elswehere is real. Therefore make sure that the price of your solution reflects the target group.
Personalised nutrition considers matching the right patients with the right tool. This means that practitioners need to make a quick decision in terms of hwo they can help their clients live healthier lives. As we come from a healthcare background, we at Qina are acutely aware of how important it is to personalise the advice and recommendation given to each client as much as possible. For this reason we included price and language as part of our advanced filters.
References:
1. Digital adoption in healthcare: reaction or revolution? Accenture
2. Vasiloglou MF, Christodoulidis S, Reber E, Stathopoulou T, Lu Y, Stanga Z, Mougiakakou S. Perspectives and Preferences of Adult Smartphone Users Regarding Nutrition and Diet Apps: Web-Based Survey Study. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2021 Jul 30;9(7):e27885. doi: 10.2196/27885. PMID: 34328425; PMCID: PMC8367144.
3. Diet App Use by Sports Dietitians: A Survey in Five Countries
Ref: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4319146/