People are bearing more responsibility for selecting and paying for their own care, and those costs are rising rapidly.

As their portion of healthcare costs soars, patients are eager to find ways to reduce spending. But they face this main challenge that prevents them from becoming truly informed and empowered consumers:

Fractured information. It’s difficult for consumers to get access to their complete health data. They might have separate portals to manage from their primary care physician, specialist and local hospital. Even though the majority of consumers want to share information to aid in diagnosis and treatment, it is challenging to do so easily. This problem can be resolved if patients use a portal, like APMIS Mobile that enables them to upload clinical information from any vendor’s electronic health record (EHR).

Culturally, we are much more interested in health, wellness and fitness than ever before. This phenomenon is spurred on by three trends: 1) people are individually responsible for more of their health care, 2) there are more sources of data available about health, and 3) there are more technology tools and applications in health care.

Whatever your health issue or challenge is – whether you want to track daily steps, or manage fertility, or control blood sugar levels – there is an app for it. A survey by Kaiser Family Foundation/Health Research & Education Trust found that show that the percentage of consumers with at least one medical, health or fitness app on their mobile devices doubled between 2013 and 2015. These applications empower consumers in new ways.

Providers will succeed when they offer open, connected technologies that overcome these challenges and enable patients to take charge of their data.

APMIS helps organizations keep the focus on the care and overall experience of every patient, every day. Learn more here.