Doctors Slow to Communicate by Email

"OK, so it's well known, that the adoption of e-prescribing and EMR technology by physicians has been slow, but now a new study finds that most physicians don't even utilize inexpensive, widely used IT tools in clinical practice. The study — to be published in next month's Journal of General Internal Medicine — finds that 3.4% of 1,662 U.S. physicians report e-mailing their patients, 39% access online professional journals and 40.8% say they use clinical-decision support, including government and professional society Web sites and searchable databases. The study finds that a practice's size plays a much larger role than a physician's age. Although recent medical school graduates tend to use IT more than do more experienced doctors, the study reports that solo/two-person practices were less likely to use IT regardless of physician age. For more on the study, click here. " I pulled this off an AIS newsletter today. The fact that only three percent of doc's are emailing illustrates that insurers are still running the show when it comes to healthcare. If insurers paid for it, by God, doctors would be doing it. Period. This show how far removed "Traditional Medicine" is from the normal competitive pressures of business. Can you imagine your banker or accountant or investment advisor not having a website or enhanced electronic communicaton? As we move to the consumer directed care model with high deductible plans combined with MSA's families will have the choice of pediatricians for their children. A. Full Coverage Insurance- Wait for an hour to see a nurse for five minutes. B. High Deductible Plan with MSA funding Personal Pediatrics affiliate pediatrician's retainer fees- Enhanced doctor patient communication and attentive house calls for your child. Take a look at www.personalpediatrics.com and watch our story as it unfolds. Natalie Hodge MD St. Louis