A telephone study by the digital association Bitkom on the use of telemedical health services by people who are 65 years old and older has shown that these people are usually already interested in digital services in this area, but lack of knowledge and fears mean that video telephony with doctors, online appointments, and much more are used less frequently or with restraint. For the representative study, 1,000 over-65 year-olds were interviewed by telephone between January and June 2020, so that information before and during the Covid 19 pandemic can also be compared. According to the study, many telemedical services are very popular – such as telemedical monitoring of one’s own health status, which 50 percent of the senior citizens surveyed could imagine – but fear of contact thwarts people’s expectations. The survey showed, however, that in January only three percent of the selected seniors had made use of the offer, while in June it was already six percent. A direct comparison was therefore possible here. People over the age of 65 can also imagine using the e-patient file in the future. In the survey, 53 percent agreed with this digital service once it had been established, and 40 percent agreed to use e-prescriptions. Chat and messenger services for communicating with doctors are also popular, as 46 percent would also use this function. However, the survey showed that usage rose from 16 percent in January to just 19 percent in June, despite the corona lockdown. Doctors‘ evaluation portals and other online comparison portals are also highly popular with older people, with 54 percent showing interest; 25 percent already used this function for research in June. Digital reminder tools for doctor’s appointments are similarly popular with senior citizens; here, however, 38 percent were already using them by the middle of the year. Men and women also have more or less the same interests and fears of not being able to use the technology. Experts such as Bitkom recommend President Achim Berg to people to use so-called digital companions for questions and assistance on the Internet. In his opinion, it would also make sense to have so-called experience and testing rooms where older people who did not grow up with the Internet can get help from „street workers“ in the digital world. Politicians are called upon to work urgently on such facilities, as the effects of the Corona pandemic have also shown.
