The American Medical Association’s newest physician survey has a lot of good news for those of us in healthcare tech. It found greater across-the-board physician adoption of digital tools, whether virtual consults, patient visits, adoption of patient portals, workflow enhancements, or clinical decision support.
While current usage was greatest for other tools, the greatest increases were virtual visits via telemedicine, doubling from 14 percent to 28 percent, and remote monitoring for improved care from 13 percent to 22 percent of the over 1,300 physicians surveyed in both years.
AMA last surveyed physicians on their digital health adoption in 2016. Both the 2019 and 2016 surveys were performed by WebMD and examined seven key digital tools. In current use, 2019/2016:
- Remote monitoring for efficiency: 16%/12%
- Remote monitoring and management for improved care: 22%/13%
- Clinical decision support: 37%/28%
- Patient engagement: 33%/26%
- Tele-visits/virtual visits: 28%/14%
- Point of care/Workflow enhancement: 47%/42%
- Consumer access to clinical data: 58%/53%
Also notable was that primary care physicians (PCPs) see greater advantages in digital health more than specialists, though in top two boxes, they are equal. Multi-specialty groups like digital health best.
Providing remote care is also a driver for digital health adoption, the only one which increased several points in the very/somewhat important indicator.
Not surprisingly, older physicians are less enthusiastic about digital health, but they have increased adoption much in line with younger cohorts.
And way back in the appendix of the study, doctors look to emerging technologies to assist them with their chronic care patients, with millenials not that far behind.
Articles: Health Data Management, HealthLeaders
Study: Summary, AMA Digital Health Study 2019
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