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Have physician offices become more wired?

An online survey reports that computer usage levels for nonadministrative purposes are up, but some say the numbers are inflated.

By Tyler Chin, amednews staff. Dec. 2, 2002.

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Wired physician offices are increasingly using and looking to buy technology for clinical purposes, according to a recent online survey by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.

About 99% of the 453 physicians and practice administrators who responded reported that their practices used computers. (More than 5,000 doctors and practice managers were invited to participate in the survey.)

Although respondents primarily used computers and software for administrative purposes, the survey also found that they "were more connected than perhaps thought" in terms of using technology for clinical purposes, said Carla Smith, executive vice president of membership and professional services of HIMSS, a Chicago-based health care technology industry group that conducted the Web-based survey.

For example, 28% said they used electronic medical records software, and 72% used handheld devices, primarily personal digital assistants. Physicians said they used their handheld devices to look up pharmaceutical information before prescribing drugs for patients (69%), to schedule patients (41%) and to capture charges (28%). Another 19% used the devices for electronic prescribing and 18% for clinical note taking.

About 91% of the respondents said they planned to buy software, networking equipment or hardware in the coming year. Fifty-seven percent planned to spend $50,000 or less; 25%, between $50,000 and $500,000; 9%, more than $500,000; and 9% did not know how much they would spend.

Thirty-eight percent planned to buy an electronic medical record system within the next 12 months; 28%, a handheld device; 27%, networking equipment; 20%, registration/scheduling software; 17%, billing software; and 16%, clinical software. [...]