Report: More physicians communicating online with patients

While the majority of doctors still do not communicate with patients via email, secure messaging portals or instant messaging, online patient-physician communication is no longer a rarity, according to a new report from Manhattan Research. About 39 percent of physicians now have electronic communications with their patients, a 14-point increase since 2006, the healthcare market research company says.

This embrace of technology could bode well for the coming push to adopt electronic medical records. "We find that those physicians connecting with their patients online are more likely to be accessing the Internet during patient consultations and using various forms of health IT across the board," Manhattan Research's director of research, Erika S. Fishman, says in a company statement. "As we work to remove the barriers to physician adoption of online communication with patients, and each party becomes more comfortable with exchanging health information online, we could see a parallel movement in use of electronic medical records and personal health records."

Among specialty physicians, dermatologists and medical oncologists are the most likely to communicate online with patients. Neurologists, endocrinologists and specialists in infectious diseases also have relatively high rates of electronic communication.

To learn more:
- read this Manhattan Research press release

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