Growing medical use of handheld computers reported

But a survey of doctors says it will be a while before a majority of physicians use the devices.

By Tyler Chin, amednews staff. Oct. 8, 2001.

Physician use of handheld devices almost doubled over the past two years, but the rate of adoption suggests that it will be several years before most of the country's doctors will be using the devices in their offices.

According to a recent survey from Harris Interactive Inc., 26% of the country's practicing physicians used handhelds for professional and personal activities in 2001, up from 15% in 1999.

By the numbers

Eighteen percent of the physicians surveyed use the devices as an "integral" part of their office, meaning that they use them for prescribing, checking formulary and drug information, tracking and updating medical records, billing and practice management, said Humphrey Taylor, chair of Harris Poll, a unit of New York-based Harris Interactive Inc., which conducted the survey. The remainder use the devices mainly for personal activities, Taylor said.

Although the number of doctors using handhelds in their practice is relatively high, the findings nonetheless indicate that it will be several years before most of them will use the devices professionally, he said.

That's because only 33% of doctors not using handheld devices today expect to use them in the next five years, while 67% either don't expect to or aren't sure that they will, Taylor said. "Those expectations may not be good predictions, but clearly there's a very large number of physicians who are under no great pressure as yet to do this or see no particular need to do it."

Thus, Harris Interactive estimates that 50% of the country's physicians will be using the devices by 2005. But that could change markedly if insurers, employers, hospitals and other providers mandate physician usage.

Taylor noted that employer groups already are putting pressure on doctors and hospitals to use computers to improve clinical care. Those include the Washington, D.C.-based Leapfrog Group, a coalition of large employers whose members have said their health care purchasing decisions will be influenced by whether hospitals implement computerized physician order-entry systems to reduce medication errors.

Harris Interactive, which surveyed 834 physicians, also found that doctors in larger practices are more likely to use handhelds than those in solo and small practices. Usage also was higher among doctors under 45 years old and hospital-based doctors.