A new survey suggests many physicians are struggling to adapt to new technology and new standards of performance evaluation.
A survey conducted by Burlington, Mass.-based Decision Resources Group found that 43 percent of physicians said they believe that their organization is “struggling to understand and meet goals of value and quality” that are increasingly being imposed by Medicare and private insurers based on metrics such as hospital readmission, infection rates and cost savings.
While telehealth is all the rage in commentary on the health care system, only 13 percent of physicians report conducting virtual consultations with patients.
Electronic health records, however, are now an ingrained part of the U.S. health care system. Eighty-two percent of doctors report reviewing EHRs between patient consultations.
The report theorizes that the proliferation of electronic health records represents both a challenge and an opportunity for pharmaceutical companies hoping to get physicians to prescribe their products.
Only 27 percent of doctors report going directly to pharmaceutical websites in between consultations, leading Decision Resources Group to suggest that pharma companies should try to partner with electroinc health records vendors, although how that would work without compromising the purported objectivity of an electronic health record system is unclear.
Doctors are already under increasing pressure to resist influence from pharmaceutical vendors, with many hospitals imposing rules that bar employees from interacting with pharma reps. However, the survey showed the 85 percent of doctors said they were open to accessing sponsored content from drug companies in medical journals or websites.
"In the current health care landscape, physicians are struggling to support their patients, manage multiple data streams and meet daunting new performance goals,” says Kelly Pinola, an analyst at Decision Resources Group. “This opens up a range of opportunities to support physicians in their daily workflow. Pharma companies have a unique opportunity during this time of change to build positive brand equity among these physicians."
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