Digital Healthcare Navigation Faces Awareness and Accuracy Hurdles.

September 11, 2025 – A new LexisNexis® Risk Solutions survey, with data collection by Ipsos, reveals that many Americans report challenges with the accuracy and usability of healthcare provider directories. One in three healthcare provider directory users in this survey (33%) report they have encountered outdated or incorrect information when using a healthcare provider directory. The survey found that while most American adults (82%) have used a healthcare provider directory, a portion of the adult population remains unengaged, as nearly one in five Americans (18%) say they have never used one. Additionally, according to the findings when American adults are actively looking for a new healthcare provider, usage of digital tools such as hospital/health systems and health plan directories lag behind traditional methods of referrals and recommendations, highlighting barriers in digital healthcare navigation.

Detailed Findings

Data inaccuracy and user difficulties create pain points. One in three healthcare provider directory users surveyed encounter incorrect information. One in five of these users find the platforms difficult to navigate.

• One in three (33%) healthcare provider directory users indicate they have encountered outdated or incorrect information.
• Beyond data quality, one in five users (21%) found their last experience using a healthcare provider directory to search for a doctor, specialist, or other healthcare provider to be somewhat difficult (17%) or very difficult (4%).

Many report not using or being unfamiliar with healthcare provider directories. While healthcare provider directories are common tools, one in five consumers have never used them, often because they don't know they exist or how to access them.

• Almost one in five respondents (18%) say they have never used a healthcare provider directory to find a doctor, specialists, or other healthcare providers or healthcare facility.
• Among those who have never used a healthcare provider directory, 10% say they are unaware they had a healthcare provider directory and 4% say they don’t know how to access a healthcare provider directory.

Consumers rely on healthcare provider directories for critical healthcare decisions. Healthcare provider directory users say they leverage directories for tasks like finding specialists and confirming their insurance coverage.

• The most common reasons for using a healthcare provider directory among users are finding a specialist (49%) and confirming providers are in-network (46%).
• When finding a provider that meets consumers’ needs, network coverage/participation (58%) and ensuring the provider can deliver the specific type of care needed (56%) are the two most important factors for users.
  • In fact, 30% of healthcare provider directory users select network coverage/participation as the single most important factor when finding a provider that meets their needs from a healthcare provider directory.

Overall, usage of hospital/health system and health plan directories lags behind traditional referral methods. When actively seeking a new doctor, specialist, or other healthcare provider...

• The most common methods involve “personal connections”, 52% of Americans seek a referral from their current doctor and/or 46% ask friends or family for recommendations.
• Usage of directories is lower, with 31% indicating they use a hospital/health system and/or 30% use a health plan directory as one of their methods.

Mobile Devices Dominate Access to Healthcare Provider Directories: For those who utilize healthcare provider directories, mobile devices are the preferred method of access.

• Over half (51%) of healthcare provider directory users say they access directories via mobile devices.
• Desktop computers are the second most common type of access utilized (36%).

These are findings of a LexisNexis survey, with data collection provided by Ipsos, conducted between June 12 – June 18, 2025. For this survey, a nationally representative sample of 3,014 U.S. adults aged 18 and older were surveyed online in English. The results of this research have a credibility interval of plus or minus 2.0 percentage points for all respondents.