Payers can gain tremendous time and cost efficiencies by transitioning members from paper to digital communications as long as members are receptive and willing to make the switch, according to the results of a recent survey by Change Healthcare, a leading independent health care technology company.

The survey findings, published by the online trade journal Fierce Healthcare, were based on a poll of 250 insured consumers. They were asked what the barriers are to “going paperless” and what they find enticing about the digital channels they prefer.

As the accompanying infographic shows, 70 percent of the health care plan members said they are “comfortable or very comfortable” moving to a paperless, digital experience. Seventy-seven percent said they are “comfortable/very comfortable” using an electronic signature for documents.

The top three reasons that members said they would go paperless are that they:

• Prefer keeping digital records
• Faster receipt of communications
• Avoids paper waste/supports the environment
(three-way tie)

Additionally, the members said they prefer to read documents digitally, and going paperless saves space.

Survey respondents age between the ages of 35 and 44 years-old had the highest preference for digital communications.