KFF Health Tracking Poll: Public Use and Trust in Health Care Apps and Websites

Key Takeaways

• There is widespread use of health care apps or websites to manage individuals’ health care with about three in four adults in the U.S. saying they have used a health care app or website in the past year, including majorities of adults regardless of income, education, race and ethnicity, and where they live. The most common use of these health care apps includes getting test and lab results, making appointments, and managing prescriptions or medications. This includes health care apps managed by a health provider like MyChart or other online patient portals for doctors, hospitals, or insurance companies, but does not include personal fitness or wellness apps used to track health and wellbeing.
• About eight in ten adults ages 65 and older with Medicare say they have used a health care app or website in the past year, and the large majority say using these tools made it easier to manage their health care. This may be seen as encouraging sign for the “Make Health Tech Great Again” initiative announced by President Trump and CMS Director Dr. Oz announced earlier this year, which aims to partner with dozens of companies to increase the availability and use of digital health tools, including apps. But one in ten older adults with Medicare say that these digital health tools make managing their care more difficult.
• A majority of older adults with Medicare say it should be at least an important priority for Medicare to make it easier to securely share information between different providers (81%) and increase the availability of apps that help manage chronic conditions with a health care provider (63%). However, few say that either of these items should be a top priority for Medicare. Instead, majorities call it important, but not a top priority.
• While use of health care apps is common and most find them helpful in managing their care, the public is still very worried about privacy and many are cautious about the use of artificial intelligence, or AI. Majorities of adults express concerns about the privacy of their health information, regardless of whether the app is managed by the government (78%), a private technology company (75%), or a health insurance company (64%). Fewer, or about half (52%), are concerned about the privacy of their information if the app is managed by a hospital or other health care provider. Less than half of the public say they would trust a health care app that used AI to manage their health care (41%) or access their medical records and provide personalized health information or advice (32%).

About eight in ten of the public say they have ever used a health care app or website to manage their health care, including three in four who say they have done so in the past year. This includes at least six in ten adults across education, income, race and ethnicity, and age groups. But the recent rate of uptake does vary somewhat within demographic groups. For example, eight in ten White adults say they’ve ever used an online tool to manage their health care in the past year, compared to seven in ten Black adults, and about two-thirds of Hispanic adults.  Education and income are also factors in recent use of health care apps or websites, with smaller shares of those with lower incomes and less than a college degree reporting they’ve ever used these online tools to manage their health care. Use of these digital health tools is widespread across age groups, with at least seven in ten saying they’ve ever used a health care app or website to manage their care and at least two-thirds having done so in the past year. In addition, use of health care apps does not vary depending on where people live, with large majorities of people living in urban areas (76%), suburban areas (79%), and rural areas (78%) reporting ever using such apps.

Most commonly, seven in ten (71%) adults say they have used a health care app or website in the past year to access their medical records or lab test results, followed by about six in ten adults who have used an app or website to make an appointment with a doctor or health care provider (61%) or manage prescriptions (59%). More than half of adults (55%) have used an app or website in the last year to send a direct message to their doctor or other health care provider. Less common are using apps or websites to file claims or pay bills from either their health insurance company or provider (46%), to have video appointments with their doctor (35%), or to manage a chronic condition like diabetes or obesity with their doctor (21%).

Health Care App and Website Use Among Older Adults with Medicare

In late July, the Trump administration announced plans to build a “smarter, more secure, and more personalized healthcare experience.” This announcement came off the back of a “Make Health Tech Great Again” meeting at the White House, where the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) secured commitments from healthcare and technology firms that will partner with the government to create better health technology, especially for those with government insurance. Among the technology groups to partner with the administration is OpenAI, with plans to add AI assistance to technology improvements.

Three quarters of adults with Medicare ages 65 and older say they’ve used an online tool to access their medical records or lab results in the last year. About six in ten older adults with Medicare say they’ve used a health care app or website to manage prescriptions or medications (62%), sent a direct message to their doctor or health care provider (57%), or made an appointment with a doctor or health care provider (55%). Just under half (45%) of older adults with Medicare have used an online tool to file claims or pay bills from their insurance company and provider in the last year. Smaller shares say they’ve used a health care app or website to have a video appointment with their doctor or health care provider in the last year (30%) or used it to manage chronic conditions like diabetes or obesity with their doctor or health care provider (23%).

Overall, two-thirds (65%) of the public say using health care apps and websites has made managing their health care easier, while one in ten say it makes no difference (8%). Few (5%) say that using these online tools makes managing their health care more difficult. Around one in five adults overall have never used these tools.

Notably, about one in ten (8%) Medicare enrollees ages 65 and older report that using these online tools makes it more difficult to manage their health care, while two in ten (21%) have never used these tools.

How Older Adults with Medicare See Technology as a Priority for CMS

A majority of older adults with Medicare say it is important for Medicare to prioritize aspects of app or website development for health care delivery, but few say it should be a top priority for the agency. Eight in ten (81%) say it is at least an important priority that Medicare makes it easier to securely share health information between different health care providers, and about two thirds (63%) say it’s at least an important priority that Medicare increases availability of apps that help manage chronic conditions like diabetes or obesity with the help of a health care provider.

Even though majorities say that it is at least important, few older adults with Medicare say that these are a top priority for them, including a quarter (27%) who say making it easier to share health information between providers is a top priority and one in ten (12%) who say increasing availability of apps to manage chronic conditions is a top priority.  About half of adults ages 65 and older with Medicare say each is important, but not a top priority. On the other hand, three in ten say increasing availability of apps to manage chronic conditions is not too important and 6% say it shouldn’t be done, while one in seven (14%) say making it easier to securely share health information is not too important and 5% say it shouldn’t be done.

Among the public overall, these shares are similar across partisanship, with majorities of Republicans and Democrats saying each of these is at least an important priority for Medicare but smaller shares seeing them as top priorities.

One of the purposes noted by CMS in creating this digital health ecosystem is to reduce the number of apps that people have to use to access their health information. Half (51%) of people who have ever used health care apps, including 55% of those with Medicare ages 65 and older, report that they use multiple apps, websites, or accounts to manage their health care.

Most people who use multiple apps say they find it “very” or “somewhat easy” to keep track of the multiple sources, including 72% of Medicare enrollees ages 65 and older. However, three in ten adults and a similar share of older Medicare enrollees (28%) say they find it either “somewhat” or “very difficult” to manage multiple apps or websites.

Privacy Concerns and AI

Majorities of adults are concerned about the privacy of their information when using a health care-related app, regardless of who manages it. About eight in ten (78%) say they would be “very” or “somewhat” concerned about the privacy of their information when using a health care related app managed by the government, with similar shares saying so if the app was managed by a private technology company (75%). Two-thirds (64%) would be concerned about the privacy of their information if the app was managed by a health insurance company. Fewer – about half (52%) – say the same if the app was managed by a hospital or other health care provider.

Privacy concerns are pervasive across party, with majorities across partisanship saying they would be concerned about the privacy of their information on a health care related app managed by the government, a private technology company, or a health insurance company. Republicans, independents, and Democrats are less concerned about privacy issues if the app is run by a hospital or other health care provider but still a slight majority of independents and Republicans are concerned. A majority of adults, regardless of age, are concerned about the privacy of their information if the app is managed by the government, private technology companies, or an insurance company.

Part of CMS’s vision for modernizing America’s health care technology system involves supporting health care apps that utilize artificial intelligence (AI). However, the public isn’t quite convinced that AI can help manage their health care or provide personalized health information. Less than half of the public (41%) say they would have a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in a health care app, website, or online patient portal that uses an AI chatbot to make appointments or send messages to their doctors. An even smaller share, about one in three adults (32%), say they would trust an online health tool that uses AI to access their medical records to provide personalized health information. Very few would trust a health tool that uses AI “a great deal” to do either of these tasks, with just under one in ten trusting AI chatbots to manage their care or to access their medical records (8% for each).

Notably, the level of trust in AI does not vary across age groups with less than half regardless of age saying they trust AI to manage their care or provide personalized health information, though older adults are somewhat more likely than younger adults to say they don’t know enough to say whether they would trust online health tools that use AI to help manage their health care.