What would it take for you to reveal your data to save others?

Masks separation, all kinds of practices and distance and one day vaccine are all gonna be key tools to battling and corralling the huge impact of COVID-19. But another one is data. And if you think we argue over masks, you want to see consumers opinion about whether they can show it or will share their data in furtherance of corralling this pandemic. Now what? [MUSIC] Jennifer Kent will have some answers on this. She is Senior Director of Parks Associates, a research firm that I think does some of the most cogent research about how consumers relate to technology issues, particularly around smart home. Connected health and they've got a new report called COVID-19 impact on tele health use and perspectives. And within there is some interesting data on how forthcoming we want to be to help pitch in with data to deal with this pandemic. Jennifer, give us some of the top line around that area that you found in this latest survey. Really interesting time to be studying health and technology and consumers perspective on this. One of the things that we did measure in this survey beyond Telehealth Awareness he'll help you is specifically around contact tracing is a really hot issue right? Would you be willing to share your smartphone data in order to help. Track and trace and get a control on the COVID-19 virus. So top line results are that actually a majority of people said yes off the bat with no additional You know, permissions or, you know, assurances that they needed. So 52% of folks in broadband households I can talk a little bit about that a minute. Said said Yes, I'd be willing to do that. After that we asked, you know, for those who are unwilling are there things that Could you could be a short of that would make you more comfortable engaging and sharing your data. And we offered about five different assurances from just being aware of Of how your data is being used just being asked permission. It's an opt in Mm-hm Being anonymized and making sure that it can't be traced back to you personally. And as long as one of those were in place, an additional 20% of people said that they would be comfortable sharing their data specifically for that pandemic. So really interesting and actually pretty strong validation that this could be an option that some consumers are willing to. Yeah, and I found that so interesting when because you guys are so good about asking those questions that say okay now what additional things do you need to become comfortable whenever you research any area of consumers relationship with tech? And so when you took this one on when you got that 70% number that was interesting, it wasn't like they needed a battery of all these things. They kind of just needed to be thrown a bone is almost like what it sounds like. Yeah, exactly. I think that when you first hear my smartphone is going to be tracking me. What does that mean that can be off putting. But if you're given more information and you have some assurances as to how the data is going to be used for this moment for this purpose. It's something that a lot of consumers are open to and feel would be valuable. And as you know, when it comes to personal data in general, it's always a trade off question, again for this moment people see the value of that. The trade off but not everybody we did do some digging as to who's in the yes bucket who's in the no bucket. A lot of what it comes down to for this specific piece of data sharing actually is two things. One is personal knowledge Have somebody who has had COVID-19. So if you know somebody in your social circle, and it could be relatively far away from your acquaintance or a co worker, right, not necessarily in your family that has tested positive for COVID-19 you're much more willing to share that data. But the earlier point you had is really interesting. Whether someone knows someone. Who has contracted or at least tested positive? That doesn't necessarily mean that they're sick and in the hospital, but that they simply have gotten it right. That's right. And of course, as the pandemic continues on, there will be a higher percentage of the population every quarter. That comes to know somebody that tested positive. So in our March survey, something like 7% of consumers told us that they knew somebody who had tested positive and by May that had jumped to 35%. So, Yeah, big jump and so that's and that makes it almost inevitable if these trends like you have discovered continue Then at some point, we get to almost a unanimous interest in sharing our data to knock down COVID if indeed knowing someone is such a trigger, because that's just, that's just gonna keep scaling. Right now, of course, you're always gonna have the holdouts and people who are simply not comfortable right. And privacy concern that privacy protection of your own personal data will always overweigh. Again that trade off it that you wanna do, but I mean that is a very strong piece of evidence to say that people will be more and more comfortable with those types of measures. It sounds like you guys feel as though consumers have a Pretty good idea. Or maybe, maybe we don't know that a pretty good idea of what contact tracing means. Do you think consumers understand it? Did you have to explain it a lot or in your survey methodology, or do you think the phrase itself is is relatively clear? Yeah, so we did take a little bit of time to explain it. We didn't get very detailed on exactly how it would work. But we did say that it would be using a smartphone. To share personal data about yourself and your health in order to trace your contacts in order to help. Monitor and stop the spread of COVID-19. So a smartphone of all your data is involved and the whole purpose of this is to track and hopefully stop the spread of COVID-19.>> You have any hunches about how connected health telehealth would you did talk about and smart homes might also become part of consumers willingness to share data. That they're learning in this pandemic that we'll carry on once it's over. Yeah, so that's a really interesting topic. The crossover between smart home and healthcare is is really being pushed right now because of this pandemic because for the first time we are seeing healthcare delivery. Being pushed into the home, right? So in all of our past telehealth research or connected health research, there's a very strong bias. There has been a very strong personal bias with in person health care. That certain segments, households with children in particular see the convenience of virtual care and they need to get a doctor in the weekends or at night. And so they were willing to do telehealth, but pretty much everyone wants to see See their doctor in person, some skepticism of the fact that you could get the quality of care virtually that you can in person. We saw a huge shift this year that that has really been flipped on its head. So convenience is no longer the top driver for health care in the home. It is, well first just the fact that a lot of physicians Work seeing patients so if you want to see your doctor, do that right from home, but also the the fact that you didn't want to be exposed at the physician's office or to expose others. And so for the first time, there's actually a real strong value proposition beyond convenience. To help delivery and health care receiving happening at home, and so one of the things that we're looking at really strongly is how do you make health care at home as high quality as what you get in the facility. So right now of course you have virtual consultations, but there are some some pieces that are missing there that really limits that visit. And a lot of that has to do with data. So your vital signs data, right your weight, your blood pressure if you're diabetic or you know, blood sugar readings If you have cardiac issues, right? Are you really able to get that quality of care? So there have been trial programs going on in the remote patient monitoring space where some of these connected devices in the home but we haven't seen a lot of the video visits and the device data kinda coming together in a mass consumer way. That's interesting because the story you're painting there is that the clinical visit is a stopgap done today by a telehealth and then in the future, we'd want to go back and get the full quality conversation plus diagnostic data than an in office visit presents. And that seems to me like a real hurdle unless we start to get people aware and the medical system aware that You need to merge the video visit with the various devices whether they're consumer grade like an Omron watch or a title care kit or a Medtronic CGM. Or maybe it's something you get discharged with like you, You were mentioning sort of a pro level medical monitor, but those are those don't seem to be married yet. And that's where I think in my hunch anyway, is where telehealth really starts to get on equal footing with a lot of in person health. Fees, too. Pieces have really been in silos the devices are not integrated well with the video visit services. And if you talk to anybody in the ecosystem right now, everyone feels like this market has been accelerated at least five years ahead. And and and we're much closer to that future of integration. In fact, you may have seen that Tella Doc, one of the largest providers of virtual visits, just Acquired or is attempting to acquire livongo which is one of the top device connected device type chronic care management programs. So I think we're going to see more of this integration. Now connected home proper, you know, we talked about smart home smart lights, smart thermostats right? You're talking another step kind of down the road or maybe outside the traditional healthcare ecosystem. So what data is valuable there and how will that start to even come into this picture? And the one thing I think you want to keep your eye on is actually [COUGH] There are a lot of companies that offer. Platforms sensor systems that track activities of daily living particularly in the elder care space to help people stay in their homes longer. And so you can have occupancy sensors from those devices I just mentioned your smart thermostat even right or other sensors you put places that understand his mom Awake yet has she left the bed and it's 10 o'clock and nobody senses that she's up and going. Or you can sense a fall in the bathroom at night which is a very, very common time for people to fall. Right, and get those interventions. So there's a lot of data in the household. When you think about health care a little bit more broadly about, the safety and wellness of ongoing daily life in the home. But I do think that there's a lot of value there in the connected home space will be a little bit further down the road and implementation. It always ends up sounding like something for seniors right now. Yes. The things you mentioned, falls, did someone wake up? Is their voice getting softer over time? Can a speaker tell that, maybe they're getting weaker? Are they cranking up the heat more over time? And maybe they're feeling colder. It all tends to go back to older people, which You know is a great important health target and yet a lot of companies that make devices or marketers, let's face it, they want people that are under 65 and probably under 55 you know to hit those core demos as they talk about so there's almost some weird ageism there about what is sexy in the Smart Home Health Connection. I mean seniors if you just look demographically are an enormous market. They're not all the same. They're more tech savvy than a lot of times we give them credit for though there is a very real support me and learning and a training need on some of these systems and devices, but also younger family caregivers. I'm usually an adult child are almost always involved in these purchase decisions. And they're going to be one of the people that you're marketing and selling to and they are in your target demographics, right. So I don't think the senior technology assistive market is one that anybody should shy away from. There's a lot of kind of big numbers there that, you know, make it worthwhile looking at and also, especially if you think about this pandemic. I mean, we know that seniors are among the most vulnerable To the virus. Yeah, of course, having to figure out how to do caregiving remotely for the first time and maybe not come in, you know, to their mom or dad's house all the time to limit that exposure. And so the ability to give caregivers tools, you know, to remotely care for their loved ones I think is going to be a big driver for that market. And also, just the social isolation. Seniors are really vulnerable to social isolation anyway and we're putting fuel on the fire there saying you have to social isolate. Alright, so in sum, you found that, perhaps, consumers are much more Amenable to sharing data to help battle COVID than perhaps conventional wisdom would suggest, and that telehealth has gotten this enormous boost. In just a matter of months, we've moved ahead years but it still remains to be seen. I guess how much of it snaps back in a normal time in the future. You guys are obviously experts in when you need to re-survey consumers on things. We're in a weird time right now. When do you think, Yeah. It's appropriate to check in on consumers again, to see how these things that we've talked about are trending? Yeah, so we survey 10,000 bourbon households every single quarter. The topics to change, it's always emerging consumer technologies health we have traditionally hit every single year. We may have to go to six months at least, just because of how quickly everything's moving. But yeah, it's really hard to ask anybody right now to look into their crystal ball and say What do you expect to do in the next 12 months? well forget that six months, maybe three months. I think I can probably tell you. All right. Jennifer cat is Senior Director of parks associates. We've been talking about some interesting outtakes that have come from their latest report, COVID-19 impact on telehealth use and perspectives. [MUSIC]