Digital health startup marketing statistics 2026
In 2026, 34% of US adults use AI chatbots for at least one health reason, 65% of individuals were offered and used a patient portal in 2024, and 66% of physicians used health AI in 2024. US health spending reached $5.3 trillion in 2024. Every figure below links to its primary government or nonprofit source, with the data year.
- Pew (2026): 34% of US adults use AI chatbots for at least one health reason; 28% cite getting information quickly.
- ASTP/ONC (2024 data): 65% of individuals were offered and accessed a patient portal, and caregiver access rose to 51%.
- AMA (2024): 66% of physicians used health AI, up from 38% in 2023; FDA lists over 1,600 authorized AI-enabled devices (2026).
- BLS: half of new establishments survive five years, and marketing managers earn a $166,790 median wage (2025), which is why many startups start with a fractional CMO.
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“They were able to get all my ideas and work with me over a period of three to four months and create this amazing website. It's super customized, very modern, and it incorporates all the elements that I had wanted — the patient portal, nice pictures, a very interactive website, patient reviews. I would highly recommend their company to anyone who wants to make an excellent website.”
How big is the US healthcare market a digital health startup sells into?
US health care spending reached $5.3 trillion in 2024, or $15,474 per person, after growing 7.2 percent in one year. Health spending equaled 18.0 percent of gross domestic product (CMS National Health Expenditure data, 2024). That is the pool every digital health company is trying to win a slice of, whether it sells to patients, employers, payers or providers.
The headline number is useful for a pitch deck. It is less useful for a marketing plan. A startup does not sell into "health care". It sells into one budget line held by one type of buyer, and that buyer decides on very different evidence than a patient does.
The workforce squeeze behind many digital health pitches
The Association of American Medical Colleges projects a shortage of up to 86,000 physicians by 2036 (AAMC workforce projections, 2024). Many digital health products are built around this gap: virtual visits, remote monitoring, triage tools and software that saves clinician time. If your product leans on the shortage story, cite the AAMC projection directly and say "up to", because the projection is a range, not a single forecast.
| Market indicator | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| National health expenditure | $5.3 trillion (2024) | CMS |
| Spending per person | $15,474 (2024) | CMS |
| Annual growth in spending | 7.2 percent (2024) | CMS |
| Health spending as a share of GDP | 18.0 percent (2024) | CMS |
| Projected physician shortage | Up to 86,000 by 2036 | AAMC |
What it means for your marketing
- Size the buyer, not the industry. Investors may like a trillion-dollar slide. Buyers want to know which of their costs or problems you remove. Translate the macro number into the line item your buyer controls.
- Use the source name in the claim. "CMS reports" carries more weight with a health system buyer than an unlabeled figure, and AI answer engines are more likely to quote a sentence that names its source.
- Keep the shortage story honest. If your product does not measurably save clinician time, do not lead with the shortage. Buyers will ask for proof.
How many Americans already use telehealth and patient portals?
In 2021, 37.0 percent of US adults used telemedicine in the past 12 months, according to CDC's National Center for Health Statistics (CDC NCHS Data Brief No. 445, 2021 data). By 2024, 65 percent of individuals had been offered and had accessed an online medical record or patient portal (ASTP/ONC Data Brief No. 77, 2025). Digital care is no longer a new behavior you must teach from scratch.
Who used telemedicine was not even across groups. The NCHS brief breaks the 2021 figure down:
| Group (US adults, 2021) | Used telemedicine in past 12 months |
|---|---|
| All adults | 37.0% |
| Women | 42.0% |
| Men | 31.7% |
| Adults 18 to 29 | 29.4% |
| Adults 65 and older | 43.3% |
| Central counties of large metro areas | 40.3% |
| Noncore (most rural) areas | 27.5% |
Two points stand out for marketers. Older adults used telemedicine more than young adults, which runs against a common assumption. And rural use was lower than metro use, even though rural access is a frequent part of telehealth pitches.
Patient portals and apps in 2024
The ASTP/ONC data brief, based on the 2024 Health Information National Trends Survey, adds detail on records access (ASTP/ONC Data Brief No. 77, 2025):
- 77 percent of individuals were offered online access to their medical records by a provider or insurer in 2024.
- App-based access to online records rose from 38 percent in 2020 to 57 percent in 2024, among people who accessed their records.
- Proxy or caregiver access more than doubled, from 24 percent in 2020 to 51 percent in 2024.
- 59 percent had multiple online medical records or portals, but only 7 percent used an app to combine them in one place.
What it means for your marketing
- Market to caregivers on purpose. Caregiver access to someone else's portal more than doubled between 2020 and 2024. If your product touches family care, write pages and ads for the adult child, not only the patient.
- Do not assume young equals digital-first for care. Test messaging by age group instead of defaulting to a youth-skewed creative plan.
- Fragmentation is a message. The gap between 59 percent with multiple portals and 7 percent using an organizing app is a real, citable problem statement for interoperability and navigation products.
Where do Americans get health information in 2026?
Health care providers remain the top source: 85 percent of Americans get health information from them at least sometimes. Major health websites follow at 60 percent, then news organizations at 46 percent, government agencies at 45 percent, social media at 36 percent and AI chatbots at 22 percent (Pew Research Center, 2026). Pew surveyed 5,111 adults in October 2025.
| Source of health information | Share who use it at least sometimes |
|---|---|
| Health care providers | 85% |
| People facing similar health issues | 66% |
| Major health websites | 60% |
| Journalists and news organizations | 46% |
| Government health agencies | 45% |
| Social media | 36% |
| AI chatbots | 22% |
Accuracy ratings differ sharply
Use is not the same as trust. Among people who use each source, 65 percent say information from health care providers is extremely or very accurate. For major health websites the figure is 48 percent. For social media it is 7 percent, and 47 percent of social media users say the health information there is not too or not at all accurate (Pew Research Center, 2026).
What it means for your marketing
- Clinicians are your strongest channel, even for a consumer product. Clinical advisors, provider partnerships and content reviewed by named clinicians borrow the trust that 85 percent of people already place in providers.
- Peer stories matter. Two in three Americans learn from people with similar conditions. Community programs and moderated patient groups can work, but testimonials must follow the FTC rules on endorsements and reviews.
- Use social for reach, not proof. Social media reaches many people but scores lowest on perceived accuracy. Pair social campaigns with landing pages that carry clinical review and sources.
How many Americans use AI chatbots for health questions?
In June 2026, 34 percent of US adults said they use AI chatbots for at least one of eight health reasons Pew asked about. The top reason was getting health information quickly (28 percent), followed by low cost (22 percent). Fifteen percent use chatbots to help decide whether to see a doctor (Pew Research Center, August 2026).
Earlier surveys point the same way, though they asked different questions and should not be read as one trend line. In 2024, KFF found that about one in six adults (17 percent) used AI chatbots at least once a month for health information and advice, and 29 percent trusted chatbots to give reliable health information (KFF Health Misinformation Tracking Poll, 2024). Pew's 2025 survey found 34 percent of all US adults had ever used ChatGPT, including 58 percent of adults under 30 and 10 percent of those 65 and older (Pew Research Center, 2025).
| Measure | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Adults who use chatbots for at least one health reason | 34% (June 2026) | Pew |
| Use chatbots to get health information quickly | 28% (2026) | Pew |
| Use chatbots because they are low-cost or free | 22% (2026) | Pew |
| Use chatbots for health topics they are uncomfortable discussing | 18% (2026) | Pew |
| Use chatbots to decide whether to see a doctor | 15% (2026) | Pew |
| Adults who used chatbots monthly for health info | 17% (2024) | KFF |
| Adults who have ever used ChatGPT | 34% (2025) | Pew |
How users rate chatbot health answers
Among chatbot health users, 47 percent say the information is extremely or very helpful and 48 percent say somewhat helpful. Only 5 percent say it is not too or not at all helpful. Comfort with sharing personal data is split: 29 percent are extremely or very comfortable sharing personal health information with a chatbot, 42 percent somewhat comfortable and 26 percent not too or not at all comfortable (Pew Research Center, August 2026).
What it means for your marketing
- AI answers are a discovery channel now. When a buyer or patient asks a chatbot what solves their problem, your product category and your brand need to appear in the answer. Our guide on getting cited in AI Overviews and ChatGPT covers the page structure that helps.
- Write for "should I see a doctor" moments. If your product sits at the triage step, publish plain, sourced explanations of when your service fits and when it does not.
- Privacy is a conversion lever. A quarter of chatbot health users are uneasy sharing health data. Clear privacy language near sign-up forms answers that worry before it costs you a lead.
Which digital channels reach US adults in 2025?
Nearly every adult is reachable on a phone: 98 percent of Americans own a cellphone and 91 percent own a smartphone, per Pew's 2025 survey (Pew Research Center Mobile Fact Sheet, 2025). On social platforms, 84 percent of adults use YouTube, 71 percent Facebook, 50 percent Instagram, 37 percent TikTok and 26 percent Reddit (Pew Research Center Social Media Fact Sheet, 2025).
| Platform or device (US adults, 2025) | Share who use or own it |
|---|---|
| Any cellphone | 98% |
| Smartphone | 91% |
| YouTube | 84% |
| 71% | |
| 50% | |
| TikTok | 37% |
| 26% |
These figures describe who uses a platform at all. They say nothing about whether a platform will accept your health ads or how it lets you target them. Meta restricts targeting based on health conditions, and Google limits some health categories and requires certification for others. Plan for contextual and interest-level targeting rather than condition-level audiences.
What it means for your marketing
- Build mobile-first funnels. With 91 percent smartphone ownership, sign-up, eligibility and booking flows must work on a phone without zooming or long forms.
- YouTube is the widest reach channel on the list. Explainer video that shows how the product works can serve paid campaigns, organic search and sales follow-up at once.
- Treat Reddit and community spaces with care. They are useful for listening and research. Undisclosed promotion there can breach FTC endorsement rules and damage trust.
How fast are clinicians and regulators moving on digital and AI tools?
Physician use of health AI nearly doubled in a year. An AMA survey of nearly 1,200 physicians found 66 percent used health AI in 2024, up from 38 percent in 2023 (AMA physician survey, 2025). FDA has authorized over 1,600 AI-enabled medical devices for marketing in the US as of September 2026 (FDA AI-enabled medical devices page, 2026).
Physician telemedicine use also jumped. Among office-based physicians, use rose from 15.4 percent in 2019 to 86.5 percent in 2021 (CDC NCHS Data Brief No. 493, 2024). Depth of use varied: 27.4 percent of medical specialists used telemedicine for half or more of their visits in 2021, against 14.7 percent of primary care physicians.
Why these numbers matter to B2B digital health sellers
If you sell to practices or health systems, you are no longer explaining what AI or virtual care is. Most physicians have tried something. Your marketing has to explain why your tool is safer, easier to adopt or better integrated than what they already use. FDA's count also tells you the regulated AI space is crowded. Clearance alone is less of a differentiator than it was a few years ago.
What it means for your marketing
- Lead with workflow, not novelty. Show where the product fits in a clinic day and what it removes from staff workload.
- Be exact about regulatory status. Say "FDA-cleared", "FDA-authorized" or "not FDA-reviewed" only when it is true, and match the claim to the cleared indication. Overstated claims invite FTC and FDA scrutiny.
- Arm your champions. Physician buyers rarely sign alone. A one-page summary for compliance, IT and finance reviewers shortens the deal.
What do survival and hiring data say about startup marketing teams?
Half of new US business establishments do not reach year five. Of private-sector establishments that opened in March 2015, 79.6 percent survived one year, 50.2 percent survived five years and 34.7 percent survived ten years (BLS Business Employment Dynamics, Table 7, 2025). Marketing spend that does not produce measurable demand shortens runway fast.
The BLS figures cover all industries, not digital health alone. No federal source publishes survival rates for digital health startups specifically, so treat these as a general baseline.
The cost of a senior marketing hire
The median annual wage for marketing managers was $166,790 in May 2025, and the occupation held about 421,600 jobs in 2025, with 7 percent growth projected from 2025 to 2035 (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025 data). That median is before benefits, equity, recruiting time and the tools and agency budget the hire will need.
| Indicator | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Establishments surviving 1 year (2015 cohort) | 79.6% | BLS |
| Establishments surviving 5 years (2015 cohort) | 50.2% | BLS |
| Establishments surviving 10 years (2015 cohort) | 34.7% | BLS |
| Median pay, marketing managers | $166,790 (May 2025) | BLS |
| Marketing manager jobs | About 421,600 (2025) | BLS |
What it means for your marketing
- Match senior help to stage. Many seed and Series A companies need senior judgment a few days a month, not a full-time executive. That is the case for a fractional CMO for healthcare companies.
- Know the plan costs. At Ichelon Consulting US, Santosh Reddy, Partner, serves as fractional CMO on three monthly plans: $1,000/month (Advisory), $1,500/month (Growth) and $2,000/month (Embedded). Execution such as ads, SEO and content is scoped separately.
- Budget by milestone. Tie spend to the next fundraising or revenue milestone. Our guide on how much a healthcare startup should spend on marketing explains how to set it.
Which privacy rules shape digital health marketing data?
Two federal frameworks matter most. HIPAA applies when you are a covered entity or a business associate of one. The FTC Health Breach Notification Rule covers health apps and similar technologies that HIPAA does not. The FTC finalized changes to that rule in April 2024 (FTC press release, April 2024), and they treat unauthorized disclosures as breaches.
That last point is the one marketers miss. Under the amended rule, a "breach of security" includes an unauthorized acquisition of identifiable health information, whether it comes from a hack or from a disclosure the company chose to make. Sending identifiable health data to an advertising platform without authorization can count.
Tracking pixels and HIPAA
For companies covered by HIPAA, HHS's Office for Civil Rights issued guidance on online tracking technologies in December 2022 and updated it in March 2024 (HHS OCR tracking-technology guidance). In June 2024 a federal court vacated the part about unauthenticated public pages. Tracking on patient portals and other authenticated pages is still covered. Pixels on booking and intake flows remain a risk.
What it means for your marketing
- Map your data flows before you launch ads. Know which events leave your site, which platforms receive them and whether any could identify a person and a health condition.
- Use HIPAA-safe tracking setups. Server-side tagging with data minimization, and vendors who will sign a BAA where HIPAA applies. Ichelon Consulting US signs a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with every US client. Our page on HIPAA for healthcare marketing teams covers the basics.
- Confirm with counsel. Whether HIPAA, the FTC rule or state privacy laws apply depends on your business model. This page is not legal advice.
How we compiled these statistics
Every figure on this page comes from a primary source we opened and checked in October 2026: US government agencies (CMS, CDC NCHS, ASTP/ONC, FDA, FTC, BLS, HHS) and nonprofit or professional bodies (Pew Research Center, KFF, AMA, AAMC). Each figure carries its source and data year in the text.
What we left out, and why
- Venture funding totals. Digital health funding figures are published by private trackers and investment firms, not by government or nonprofit bodies. Methods differ, so we did not include them.
- Vendor benchmarks. Cost-per-lead, conversion and ad-cost "averages" from software vendors and agencies are excluded. They rarely publish sample or method.
- Figures we could not trace. If a number circulates widely but we could not find it at its original source, it is not here.
How to use this page
Quote the figure with the source name and year shown, and link to the original source rather than to this page if you need a citation for investors or a board. Survey questions differ between sources. Do not combine Pew and KFF chatbot numbers into one trend line, because they asked different questions. For a plan built on these numbers, read our digital health startup marketing guide or book a call with the US team.
Related pages from the US team
Fractional CMO for Healthcare Companies
Senior marketing leadership for digital health and healthcare startups, on monthly plans.
How should a digital health startup market itself?
Channels, messaging and sequencing for digital health companies.
Healthcare startup go-to-market strategy
How to plan a launch by buyer, channel and milestone.
When should a healthcare startup hire a fractional CMO?
Signs your company needs senior marketing leadership.
Every practice welcome — Goals-Driven engagements from $499/mo
We benchmark your last 90 days, agree monthly goals with you, and track them live on Ichelon Agency OS with a report every Monday. Performance-Linked Payout Models are available. Our US leadership is based in Dallas, and strategy calls run in US business hours.
Common questions
How many Americans use AI chatbots for health information in 2026?
Pew Research Center found in a June 2026 survey of 3,488 adults that 34% of US adults use AI chatbots for at least one of eight health reasons. The most common reason was getting health information quickly (28%). Twenty-two percent cited low cost, and 15% use chatbots to help decide whether to see a doctor.
What share of US adults use telehealth?
CDC's National Center for Health Statistics reports that 37.0% of US adults used telemedicine in the past 12 months in 2021. Use was higher among women (42.0%) than men (31.7%), and higher among adults 65 and older (43.3%) than adults 18 to 29 (29.4%). Rural use was lower than use in large metro areas.
How many people use patient portals in the US?
The ASTP/ONC Data Brief No. 77 (July 2025), using 2024 survey data, reports that 77% of individuals were offered online access to their medical records and 65% were offered and accessed a portal. App-based access reached 57% of those who accessed records, and caregiver or proxy access rose to 51%.
How many physicians use AI in 2024?
An American Medical Association survey of nearly 1,200 physicians, published in February 2025, found that 66% used health AI in 2024. That was up from 38% in 2023, a 78% jump in a year. For digital health startups selling to clinicians, AI is now a familiar category rather than a new one.
Where do Americans get health information most often?
Pew Research Center (2026, surveyed October 2025) found 85% of Americans get health information from health care providers at least sometimes. Major health websites follow at 60%, news organizations at 46%, government agencies at 45%, social media at 36% and AI chatbots at 22%. Providers also scored highest on perceived accuracy.
Should a digital health startup hire a full-time CMO or a fractional CMO?
It depends on stage and runway. BLS reports a $166,790 median wage for marketing managers in May 2025, before benefits and budget. Many early-stage companies use a fractional CMO instead. At Ichelon Consulting US, Santosh Reddy, Partner, offers fractional CMO plans at $1,000, $1,500 or $2,000 per month, with execution scoped separately.
A note on this guide: it explains marketing practice, not legal advice. Rules on privacy, advertising and insurance change and vary by state, so confirm anything compliance-related with your own counsel.
Turn these numbers into a go-to-market plan
Ichelon Consulting US helps digital health startups plan and run HIPAA-aware marketing, with fractional CMO plans from $1,000/month and Goals-Driven execution tracked with a report every Monday.