Consumer-facing data, information, and tools: Self- management of health in the digital age

Abstract

Consumers have greater access to data, information, and tools to support the management of their health than ever before. While the sheer quantity of these resources has increased exponentially over the past decade, the accuracy of consumer-facing resources is variable, and the value to the individual consumer remains uncertain. In general, the quality of these resources has improved, mostly because of improvements in web and mobile technologies and efforts to restructure health care delivery to be more patient centered. We describe the major initiatives that have led to consumers’ increased access to both their own health data and performance data for health care providers and hospitals. We explore how search engines and crowdsourced review websites help and hinder the dissemination of medically accurate information.We highlight emerging examples of websites and apps that enable consumers to make medical decisions more in concert with their preferences. We conclude by describing key limitations of consumer-facing resources and making recommendations for how they may best be curated and regulated.