Parks Associates: 67% of U.S. Broadband Households Use Either a Health Portal or Healthcare App at Least Once a Month

DALLAS, TX--(Marketwired - Aug 21, 2015) - Parks Associates research finds over two-thirds of U.S. broadband households use a health app or portal on a monthly basis, including over 80% of those with a head of household ages 18-24. Parks Associates will examine successful strategies to improve consumer healthcare adoption and usage at the firm's second-annual Connected Health Summit: Engaging Consumers, September 9-10 in San Diego, including the challenges of tying consumer solutions into the broader healthcare ecosystem.

"Connected health devices and apps are starting to open healthcare services to larger populations, but right now, consumers spend less than 1% of their time interacting with the healthcare system through hospitals, clinics, doctors, and health coaches," said Harry Wang, Director, Health & Mobile Product Research, Parks Associates. "Online health services are starting to open new engagement opportunities, and companies in the connected home space, such as broadband and security service providers, can help to drive consumer engagement by integrating connected home technology with healthcare solutions. By 2019, millions of households will benefit from a smart home platform that offers solutions in at least one of three categories -- safety/independent living, wellness, and health."

At Connected Health Summit, executives from ADT, Alarm.com, Orange Healthcare, and Verizon will examine the roles of service providers in supporting connected health rollouts during the Connected Health Summit panel "Connecting the Dots: The Roles of Service Providers in the Connected Health Space," Thursday, September 10 at 10:45 a.m.

• Don Boerema, Chief Corporate Development Officer, ADT
• Nancy Green, Global Practice Lead - Healthcare Strategy & Thought Leadership, Verizon
• Benjamin Sarda, Director of Product Marketing, Orange Healthcare
• TBD, Alarm.com

"The influx of direct-to-consumer healthcare marketing and mobile apps is driving change in behaviors, both on the clinical side and the patient side," said Nancy Green, healthcare global lead, Verizon Enterprise Solutions. "Wearables are enabling patients to stay in close contact with their healthcare providers in between clinical visits. This important connection will go a long way in helping reform our healthcare system through remote monitoring, while better providing care for patients."

"Patient-care workflows are undergoing significant change, driven in great part by the transformative power of digital technologies," said Benjamin Sarda, Director of Product Marketing, Orange Healthcare. "New care pathways through telemedicine and remote patient monitoring are being opened up, offering patients and their care providers greater options in terms of how, when, and where treatment and follow-up are provided. While these advances are helping to improve the quality of and access to patient care, the digital transformation of healthcare delivery is also triggering new skills and new organizational structures. The integration of these new approaches into existing care models will require significant coordination along the entire healthcare value chain."

The 2015 Connected Health Summit will feature keynotes from AT&T, Cerner, CVS Health, Kaiser Permanente, and Humana. Sponsors of the event are CEA, Tata Consultancy Services, Validic, Care Innovations, Higi, Humana, MDLIVE, Alarm.com, Lowe's, ROC-Connect, Teladoc, Z-Wave, ZigBee Alliance, iTriage, MivaTek, and the National Sleep Foundation.

Registration is open, and media are invited to secure a press pass. For more information about Connected Health Summit, visit www.connectedhealthsummit.com. Follow the conference on Twitter at @CONN_Health_Smt and #ConnectedHealth15. To schedule a meeting with an analyst or speaker, contact Holly Sprague at hsprague@gmail.com, 720.987.6614.

About Connected Health Summit

Connected Health Summit: Engaging Consumers analyzes the roles of connected health technologies and innovations in driving changes in consumer behaviors and business models. The event focuses on four areas of consumer health technologies in particular, which all require active consumer participation to be successful: remote health monitoring for accountable care, consumer-centric wellness and fitness solutions, independent living technologies and services, and innovative convenience care models.

The Connected Health Summit: Engaging Consumers will take place September 9-10 at the Omni Hotel in San Diego, CA. www.connectedhealthsummit.com. Follow the event on Twitter at @CONN_Health_Smt. Subscribe to Parks Associates' digital health newsletter at http://www.parksassociates.com/newsletters_subscribe.