Think the stakes are high in a game of cards? Think again. They’re even higher for patients who gamble with their health and wellness by failing to monitor or maintain a chronic condition.

But, that’s not fair. The ownership can’t all be on the patient. They need the right tools to practice good preventative health and maintain any chronic conditions they may live with.

Turning an eye to facts and figures

The numbers support the importance of preventative health.

• The Centers for Disease Control has called chronic illness the “public health challenge of the 21st century.”
• By 2030, around 171 million Americans will have at least one chronic condition.

Patients can’t do it alone

Patients and providers need the support of health IT to prevent and assist with chronic disease management. Some of the factors to consider in creating patient-facing wellness technology include:

• Usability — The experience must be simple and valuable.
• Feasibility — Tech must fit into the patient’s already busy lifestyle.
• Sensible — The solution should not overwhelm the users with reminders thereby triggering the onset of alert fatigue.
• Emotion — The user should feel connected to the technology to increase retention.

Color and animation are two of the factors brands can look to leverage in patient-facing software design or development to increase the emotional connection users feel.

So what can we do?

To start we can, empower patients to actively manage their health. The success of workplace wellness programs nods to their effectiveness reducing health costs and increasing employee wellbeing. Take a look at the infographic below to dig into these preventative health care statistics.

Feature photo above courtesy of macrovector. Infographic original by MentorMate.