May 20th, 2011 by RyanDuBosar in News
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Seven percent of U.S. physicians use online video conferencing to communicate with any of their patients, according to a study of physician digital adoption trends.
The study captures a snapshot of technology, including mobile platforms, electronic health records, electronic prescribing and interaction with patients, pharmaceutical and health care market research company Manhattan Research said in a press release.
Psychiatrists and oncologists are more likely to be using video conferencing with patients. But physicians added that reimbursement, liability and privacy are still major barriers to communicating online with patients.
Major findings include: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
May 4th, 2011 by Davis Liu, M.D. in Primary Care Wednesdays
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The New York Times recently published an article titled the Family Can’t Give Away Solo Practice wistfully noting that doctors like Dr. Ronald Sroka and “doctors like him are increasingly being replaced by teams of rotating doctors and nurses who do not know their patients nearly as well. A centuries-old intimacy between doctor and patient is being lost, and patients who visit the doctor are often kept guessing about who will appear in the white coat…larger practices tend to be less intimate”
As a practicing family doctor of Gen X, I applaud Dr. Sroka for his many years of dedication and service. How he can keep 4000 patients completely clear and straight in a paper-based medical system is frankly amazing. Of course, there was a price. His life was focused solely around medicine which was the norm of his generation. Just because the current cohort of doctors wish to define themselves as more than their medical degree does not mean the care they provide is necessarily less personal or intimate or that the larger practices they join need to be as well. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Saving Money and Surviving the Healthcare Crisis*
April 10th, 2011 by Stanley Feld, M.D. in Health Policy, Opinion
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President Obama’s has created an incentive program to encourage physicians to adopt functional Electronic Medical Records. The program’s $27 billion dollars (funded by President Obama’s Economic Stimulus package) will turn out to be a colossal failure and a waste of money.
Twenty seven billion dollars would provide $44,000 for 640,000 physicians. After the bureaucratic infrastructure is built the federal government will be lucky if one third of the money remains for bonuses to physicians.
Only 21,000 of 650,000 (3%) of physicians have applied to date.
Complex bureaucracies and complicated regulations never save money. These bureaucracies create bigger government, inconsistent policies, more complicated regulations and inefficiencies.
The best and cheapest way to create a universally accepted and functional EMR is for the federal government to put the software in the cloud and charge physicians by the click for the use of the Ideal Medical Record.
Upgrades in software to the Ideal Medical Record will be swift , inexpensive and instantly adopted. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Repairing the Healthcare System*
April 4th, 2011 by RyanDuBosar in News, Research
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Improving handoffs from the emergency room back to the primary care physician will require changing how electronic health records are used, better reimbursement to both the hospital and ambulatory doctors, and malpractice reform, according to a study. The rising use of hospitalists and larger primary care practice sizes has contributed to the difficulties faced when an ER doctors tries to reach a physician who best knows the patient.
Haphazard communication and poor coordination can undermine effective care, according to a new research conducted by the Center for Studying Health System Change. Researchers conducted 42 telephone interviews between April and October 2010 with 21 pairs of emergency department and primary care physicians, who were case-matched to hospitals so the perspective of both specialties working with the same hospital could be represented.
Among the findings in the report, telephone communication was essential in some cases, but particularly time-consuming. Both emergency and primary care physicians reported successful completion of each telephone call often required multiple pages and lengthy waits for callbacks. While placing and receiving telephone calls might seem straightforward and quick, providers said each small action multiplied across dozens of patients can become a daunting burden, with little immediate reward or reimbursement. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Hospitalist*
April 3rd, 2011 by RyanDuBosar in News
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Patients may not want to discuss clinical matters via social media, but they’d gladly set pay their bills when reminded. Social media’s value in communicating with patients is limited to the administrative aspects of it.
Americans still want traditional ways of communication when they need a clinical consult. A survey finds 84% would not use social media or instant messaging channels for medical communication if their doctors offered it, according to the communications firm Capstrat.
Respondents were more favorable toward conferring with the doctor via e-mail (52%) than they were by Twitter and Facebook (11%), chat or instant messaging (20%) or a private online forum (31%).
Even among those 18 to 29 years old, 21% said they would take advantage of an online forum if their doctor offered it, while 72% would take advantage of a nurse help line if available.
Respondents said they’d take advantage of online appointment scheduling (52%), online access to medical records (50%), or online bill payment (48%).
“It appears consumers are willing to move administrative experiences such as bill payment and records access online, but when it comes to conferring with their health care providers, people still prefer more traditional communications,” said the firm’s president, Karen Albritton, in a press release. “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.”
Patients want the same convenience of online appointments and bill paying from their doctor that they get in other areas of their lives, reports a second survey.
73% of those surveyed would use a secure online option to get lab results, request appointments and pay medical bills. The first caveat is that this survey was done by Intuit. The company is best known for QuickBooks, but its health care division offers patient portals for doctor’s offices. The second caveat is that respondents were surveyed online, which would skew results to people digitally inclined anyway.
With those two caveats in mind, the survey also found that:
–Almost half would consider switching doctors for a practice that offered online access.
–81% would schedule their own appointment via a secure Web service and fill out medical/registration forms online prior to their appointment.
–78% would use a secure online method to access their medical histories and share information with their doctor.
–59% of generation Y respondents said they would switch doctors for one with better online access, compared to only 29% of baby boomers.
–45% of patients wait more than a month to pay their doctor bill, and when they pay, half still send a paper check in the mail.
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
