Patients want online communication with doctors, and more clinicians are listening

As people take on more DIY approaches in their daily lives for travel planning, photo management, and investing, they’re looking for health care touchpoints to do the same — especially, their physicians. In 2011, more doctors are responding to this patient-driven demand, based on data published in the InformationWeek digital health care issue July 25, 2011, titled The Pain of Change. Most patients would be willing to change physician practices if their doctors don’t offer online access to tools, based on a recent survey from Intuit which Health Populi covered in March 2011 here.

For a long time, physicians were concerned about security in online messaging between their patients and their practices. Today, this is changing: InformationWeek Analytics’ 2011 Healthcare IT Priorities Survey finds that 24% of physicians reports “widespread” use of email to communicate with patients, shown in the bar chart. Privacy, security, liability, and reimbursement are the most-cited reasons for not engaging with physicians via email...