Medical Design and Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Supplies and Components Index
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • MedTech Resources
    • Medtech Events in 2025
    • The 2024 Medtech Big 100
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Subscribe to Print Magazine
    • DeviceTalks
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Educational Assets
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Voices
    • Video
  • 2025 Leadership
    • 2024 Winners
    • 2023 Winners
    • 2022 Winners
    • 2021 Winners
  • Women in Medtech
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe

Poll Of Patients Finds High Distrust In Medical Technology, Suggesting Compromised Care

January 5, 2017 By Daniel Seeger

Pushed in part by the need for budget efficiencies, healthcare facilities are increasingly moving towards scenarios in which patients are expected to take ownership of more facets of their prep and recovery related to an array of procedures. New data shared by the market research firm Black Book suggests there is high consumer distrust of the digital tools practitioners count on to keep patients on task with treatment.

Black Book conducted a national panel poll to tease out consumer views of the technology they interacted with as active patients. The survey was conducted from September to December 2016 and focused on those who’d interacted with medical technology as a patient at some point during the preceding 12 months.

In total, the survey include 12,090 adult consumers.

The poll found that 70 percent of consumers expressed a general distrust in health technology. And astonishingly high numbers of respondents were suspicious that their personal information was being shared well beyond the scope of the healthcare field, winding up in the hands of employers or the government. Specifically, 90 percent were worried about pharmacy prescriptions being shared and a whopping 99 percent fretted over mental health notes getting out.

The natural, problematic result of these concerns is that patients withhold information, potentially compromising care. Of those surveyed, 89 percent reported omitting details when talking with physicians.

(Image credit: Kevin Wolf/AP)

Additional risk arises from patient struggles with the medical technology they’re expected to use after leaving the hospital. The problems increase for those discharged from hospitals under 200 beds, largely because staffing limitations prevent adequate training for the patients. In the survey, 92 percent of patients reported difficulty either understanding the technological instructions they were given or simply using the patient portals.       

There’s also high skepticism about the capabilities of healthcare professionals to keep the information properly protected. In the survey, 69 percent of respondents said they believed their primary care physician doesn’t exhibit a satisfying facility with the technology being used, and 84 percent said their overall trust in a physician is impacted by views of their technological prowess.

In analyzing the results, Black Book CEO Douglas Brown suggests that healthcare facilities have a high motivation to address these consumer worries and work to instill greater confidence in the technology.  

“Incomplete medical histories and undisclosed conditions, treatment or medications raises obvious concerns on the reliability and usefulness of patient health data in application of risk based analytics, care plans, modeling, payment reforms, and population health programming,” Brown said in a statement. “This revelation should force cybersecurity solutions to the top of the technology priorities in 2017 to achieve tangible trust in big data dependability.”

Related Articles Read More >

This is a Zimmer Biomet marketing image of its Rosa robotic surgery system.
Zimmer Biomet seeks a ZBEdge for its Rosa robotic surgery
A photo of Capstan Medical's mitral valve implant, which uses nitinol.
Capstan Medical’s R&D head discusses the heart valve and robotics startup’s tech, engineering challenges and solutions, advice for others in medtech and how to join his team
An illustration of a neurosurgeon using a robotic endoscope to remove a brain tumor.
MDO Nitinol Innovation Special Report
A photo of Highridge Medical CEO Rebecca Whitney.
Highridge Medical is betting on this spine tech
“mdo
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND STAY CONNECTED
Get the latest medical device business news, application and technology trends.

DeviceTalks Weekly

See More >

MDO Digital Edition

Digital Edition

Subscribe to Medical Design & Outsourcing. Bookmark, share and interact with the leading medical design engineering magazine today.

MEDTECH 100 INDEX

Medtech 100 logo
Market Summary > Current Price
The MedTech 100 is a financial index calculated using the BIG100 companies covered in Medical Design and Outsourcing.
DeviceTalks

DeviceTalks is a conversation among medical technology leaders. It's events, podcasts, webinars and one-on-one exchanges of ideas & insights.

DeviceTalks

New MedTech Resource

Medical Tubing

MassDevice

Mass Device

The Medical Device Business Journal. MassDevice is the leading medical device news business journal telling the stories of the devices that save lives.

Visit Website
MDO ad
Medical Design and Outsourcing
  • MassDevice
  • DeviceTalks
  • MedTech100 Index
  • Medical Tubing + Extrusion
  • Medical Design Sourcing
  • Drug Delivery Business News
  • Drug Discovery & Development
  • Pharmaceutical Processing World
  • R&D World
  • About Us/Contact
  • Advertise With Us
  • Subscribe to Print Magazine
  • Subscribe to our E-Newsletter
  • Listen to our Weekly Podcasts
  • Join our DeviceTalks Tuesdays Discussion

Copyright © 2025 WTWH Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media LLC. Site Map | Privacy Policy | RSS

Search Medical Design & Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Supplies and Components Index
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • MedTech Resources
    • Medtech Events in 2025
    • The 2024 Medtech Big 100
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Subscribe to Print Magazine
    • DeviceTalks
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Educational Assets
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Voices
    • Video
  • 2025 Leadership
    • 2024 Winners
    • 2023 Winners
    • 2022 Winners
    • 2021 Winners
  • Women in Medtech
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe