Many physicians are using their own mobile devices in their practices even if the devices are unsupported by the IT staff of their home clinic or hospital, according to a recent survey.
Nearly two-thirds, or 63 percent, of physicians polled said they incorporate their own mobile devices in their practice, according to the report by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the research and professional services provider.
One-third of that group reported that the leaders of their hospital or practice will not support the use of mobile health devices. Yet, more than half of the physicians using mobile devices in their practice said their devices help them make decisions faster and decrease time spent on administration.
Physicians are interested in a variety of mobile health applications that can improve the use of their time and give them more complete and accurate information quickly, according to the report, "Healthcare Unwired," released Sept. 8.
Primary care physicians favored prescribing medication wirelessly, while specialists wanted to access electronic medical records wirelessly, according to the PwC survey.
About 40 percent of the physicians said that they could eliminate up to one third of office visits through the use of remote monitoring, email or text messaging with patients, especially those with chronic diseases.
That would give physicians more time to interact with patients that they treat in their offices.
"Remote and mobile technology is making it possible to move health care delivery outside the traditional settings of physician offices and hospitals to wherever patients are," said said Daniel Garrett, leader of PwC's health IT practice.
To measure mobile health adoption, the research group surveyed 1,000 physicians and 2,000 consumers during the summer.
The survey showed a growing comfort among consumers with conducting health care transactions via mobile devices. Among the consumers, one third said they would use their cell phone or smart phone to track their personal health, and 40 percent would be willing to pay for a remote monitoring device that sends health data directly to their physician.
Although much of the push for mobile health devices and services so far has come from product vendors, consumers reported that they would most prefer to receive mobile health services from their health care provider and followed by their health insurer.
This shows there are opportunities for health providers and others to differentiate themselves by using mobile health, Garrett said.
"Yet many healthcare organizations are largely ignoring the opportunity to integrate mobile health into other IT efforts, such as the implementation of electronic health records," he said.
