Docs Favor Paper Over Portals, Study Shows

Patient portals will become a big part of the requirements doctors must fulfill for Stage 2 meaningful use in the HER incentive program. And that means, doctors have a long way to go to get there, because the vast majority still like communicating the old-fashioned way.

According to a new study, the majority of providers are still using telephone (91 percent), face-to-face conversations (71 percent) or letters (74 percent) to communicate with patients rather than opting for portals, remote monitoring or online personal health records.

The study, conducted by TCS Healthcare Technologies, the Case Management Society of America and the American Board of Quality Assurance and Utilization Review Physicians, found that of the more than 600 healthcare providers surveyed, only 15 percent indicated they were using patient portals to communicate with patients; 7 percent were using remote monitoring devices, and 8 percent were using smartphone applications.