Study Shows Mobile Technology Use Trends in Healthcare

Vitera Healthcare Solutions announced the results of its EHR Solutions and Mobile Technologies Study. The Tampa-based Healthcare IT provider surveyed doctors, executives and practice managers to identify how they currently use mobile technologies and how they intend to use them in the future.

The study found that while 72% of surveyed healthcare professionals already use their mobile device for work purposes, only 6% are currently using their devices to connect to their electronic health records (EHR) or to e-prescribe. However, the majority of respondents are interested in a mobile EHR solution, with physicians being the most interested (91%), followed by practice administrators (66%) and billing managers (43%).

"Healthcare professionals are embracing the convenience of mobile technology to handle a number of work tasks, but want to expand this ability by having a mobile EHR solution," said Matthew Hawkins, CEO of Vitera Healthcare Solutions. "In the same manner that other professionals are able to enjoy the benefits of their mobile device as an office on-the-go, practice physicians, executives and managers are looking for the same accessibility to provide more efficient care for their patients."

Survey results showed that the key features respondents are looking for in a mobile EHR solution are the ability to review (93%) and update (87%) a patient's chart and order prescriptions (86%).

Other Key Findings:

Respondents presently use their mobile device to email, phone, text or send other communications (55%), perform medical research on the go (20%) and as a remote desktop solution (14%). The ability to document a patient's encounter (82%) and out-of-office activities (67%) are other elements surveyed professionals are looking for in a mobile EHR solution. The most popular mobile devices respondents use are iPhones (60%), iPads (45%) and Android smartphones (38%).