Unravelling Patient Behavior Patterns with Ubie's AI Symptom Checker: A Data-Driven Exploration

As the US healthcare landscape evolves, the demand for personalised, accessible, and efficient healthcare solutions is more pressing than ever. At Ubie, our mission is to connect patients with the right care, and we're proud to announce that 75% of Ubie users plan to seek care after using Ubie. Ubie’s AI Symptom Checker provides users with in-depth insights into their symptoms, a comprehensive analysis of potential diseases, signs to look out for, and the ideal specialist to consult. Additionally, we facilitate seamless access to healthcare providers through our telehealth and in-office scheduling integrations.

Access to care is a major problem in the US healthcare system. Barriers to accessing care range from lack of insurance to transportation hurdles to uncertainty about the severity of symptoms. Collectively, these barriers create significant delays in patients seeking care, leading to worse health outcomes and limiting the addressable market for pharma.

While Ubie addresses many of these barriers (especially uncertainty around whether to seek care and difficulty in finding an appointment), unfortunately, our data bear witness to these systemic problems. A follow-up with a representative sample of users after three weeks revealed that merely 27% had sought medical attention, whereas 33% had appointments pending.

Interestingly, the users who had not seen a physician cited two primary obstacles: the challenge of locating an appropriate doctor who would accept their insurance and extended waiting periods, becoming further exacerbated if they wanted to see a specialist rather than a PCP.

Despite expressing initial interest in seeing a physician, financial constraints deterred about 40% of users from taking subsequent action post-symptom check. The looming fear of expensive treatment costs and uncertainties surrounding insurance eligibility and coverage created a significant barrier. This demonstrates an opportunity for pharma to help patients understand their care options and navigate to low-cost options. Ubie’s Symptom Checker offers a powerful interface for reaching these patients at the right time with information on patient support programs.

These findings also show the importance of data collection outside of commoditized claims and EHR dataset. Building a relationship with users allows data collection outside of what payers and providers can see, allowing creative insights on patient preferences. 

For example, we also approached users who had consulted a physician after complaining of long-standing symptoms and had been put on a treatment plan to explore what would motivate them to consider advanced therapies for symptom management. The responses highlighted two primary factors that would encourage them to contemplate switching to advanced therapies: the prospect of improved quality of life and the assurance of insurance coverage with low co-pays. Interestingly, one patient segment preferred entrusting the decision-making process to their physicians entirely.

At Ubie, behavioral data collection is a cornerstone of our modus operandi, enabling us to effect meaningful change within the healthcare ecosystem. If you are a pharmaceutical marketer seeking custom insights tailored to specific disease areas, we invite you to contact us at global.pharma@ubiehealth.com.

For those dealing with health concerns and seeking to understand more about your symptoms, we encourage you to use our AI Symptom Checker at https://ubiehealth.com/. In the healthcare realm, knowledge is power, and we're here to empower you.