Doctors do not use digital services despite positive assessment
A new study highlights a paradox in the digitization of the healthcare sector: While doctors are generally supportive of digitization, they rarely take advantage of its opportunities due to outdated structures and existing pricing models—despite the significant potential for cost savings.
Almost six out of ten doctors (58 percent) are generally positive or very positive about digital health services such as online appointments, fitness apps or new information options for patients. 38 percent are skeptical or even very skeptical. These are the findings of a study published on Thursday by the consulting firm KPMG and the Swiss Medical Association (FMH).
However, according to another study published by KPMG around a year ago, digitalization in the healthcare sector would have huge savings potential. According to the study, around CHF 300 million could be saved each year if the patient pathway, from making appointments and referrals to hospitals to instructing Spitex for follow-up care, were all digital.
Nevertheless, according to the study, doctors hardly use these services and products: only a third integrate them occasionally or often into their daily routine, usually in the area of administration or when communicating with patients. In addition, only a third recommend that their patients use apps to document their eating habits or to stop smoking, for example. Patients would also rarely make inquiries themselves.
With internet knowledge to the family doctor
There are several reasons for this reluctance. One of them is pricing. Marc-André Giger, co-author of the study, explained it as follows in an interview with Keystone-SDA: "Patients come to the doctor's office and have informed themselves in advance about their symptoms and possible illnesses on the Internet. They would expect their GP to explain and help them classify the knowledge they have accumulated. "Doctors' conversations with patients will become more important in the future," says Giger.
The problem, however, is that these discussions, like other new, digital possibilities, are not remunerated in the current tariff system. "There is now an opportunity to adapt the tariff system to the realities of everyday life and to accommodate the medical profession," says Giger, alluding to the discussions about the Tarmed tariff system. Yvonne Gilli, a doctor who is responsible for digitalization and eHealth on the central board of the Swiss Medical Association (FMH), points out another hurdle in the discussion. "At the moment, digital applications often lead to a higher administrative burden because the same patient data has to be entered again and again," she explains. These framework conditions still need to improve.
Major transformation imminent
The important factor of age in digitalization is also reflected in the healthcare sector. In the study, more than half of doctors over the age of 55 had a negative attitude, while 74% of doctors under the age of 40 had a positive attitude. This could have a major impact on the healthcare sector, as three quarters of outpatient doctors will retire in the next ten years, according to Gilli. It is apparent that practices will be digitized with the generational change and the necessary structural change will take place of its own accord.
According to the study, doctors are also concerned about patient safety. They fear that patients could misinterpret the information or even feel encouraged to self-treat in a way that is harmful to their health. Data protection also raises concerns. 4,570 doctors took part in the survey. They are members of the FMH. The majority are from the field of general internal medicine and some work in psychiatry and pediatrics. Around two thirds of these doctors work in the outpatient sector, the other third in the inpatient sector. (SDA)
