Health IT Alters Doctor-Patient Interactions
By
John Pulley
Health information technology is a two-way street.
Physicians who use health IT to streamline administrative functions could spend more time with patients, a new survey suggests. Yet a majority of patients would also communicate with their doctors by email and schedule appointments online if they could, according to the survey that was commissioned by the Capstrat communications agency of Raleigh, N.C.
Patients still prefer traditional lines of doctor-patient communication, according to the nationwide survey of 843 adults that was conducted in February by Public Policy Polling. Most respondents ruled out wanting to use social media and instant messaging, but 60 percent said they would email their doctors, and 56 percent expressed interest in online appointment scheduling.
"The implications include a way for doctors to free up more time for their patients by moving the right interactions online, and an opportunity to forge stronger connections through personal interaction," says Karen Albritton, president of Capstrat, in a news release.
Pamela Lewis Dolan, a reporter for the American Medical Association's amednews.com, reports that physicians almost never email patients. In an article published on Monday, she cites a study published in February by the Journal of Medical Internet Research that indicates just 2.9 percent of doctors frequently email patients -- a statistic that remained steady between 2003 and 2008. Yet new technology such as patient portals also will give patients access to health information and tools, freeing doctors from "acting as a real-time intermediary," Dolan writes.
Hindering the effective use of new tools are government incentives for health IT systems that reward capabilities focused on practice efficiencies, not patient-centered functions, Nir Menachemi, author of the Journal of Medical Internet Research study, says in the amednews article.
The Capstrat-Public Policy Polling survey also showed that half of respondents said they would consider accessing their medical records online, while 48 percent expressed interest in paying medical bills online.