In a recently published report in JAMA Internal Medicine, A. Jay Holmgren, PhD, and colleagues explore the relationship between the increasing adoption of telemedicine and key indicators of electronic health record (EHR) utilization among ambulatory physicians. Over a period of 115 weeks, the study observed 1,052 ambulatory physicians at a major academic medical center, providing a robust dataset of 35,697 physician-week observations. The aim of the study was to investigate how telemedicine utilization influenced physician EHR engagement and patient messaging volume in the ambulatory healthcare setting.
There has been an increase in telehealth M&A this year. While most eHealth verticals experienced a decline in M&A this year, telehealth has increased approximately 11% increase year-over-year, with 52 deals announced so far during 2023, according to data captured in the LevinPro HC database.
The study showed a significant connection between the rise of telemedicine and a surge in EHR activity among physicians. Notably, physicians’ EHR involvement during both patient scheduled hours (PSHs) and outside of PSHs saw significant increases following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. This heightened EHR involvement prompts questions about physician productivity expectations and reimbursement policies, especially with the growing role of telemedicine in healthcare delivery.
The study found that despite the expanded use of telemedicine, there was no discernible increase in the volume of electronic messages received from patients. This suggests that telemedicine primarily affects EHR usage related to documenting patient information, rather than patient messaging. Physicians who integrated both face-to-face and telemedicine encounters, or exclusively opted for telemedicine, spent more time working in the EHR during PSHs and outside of PSHs compared to those with exclusively face-to-face interactions. However, the type of visit modality did not significantly affect the number of messages received from patients. On the other hand, weeks involving mixed modalities and entirely telemedicine visits were linked to a decrease in the number of messages sent to patients, as compared to weeks with exclusively face-to-face interactions.
The longitudinal cohort study underscores the impact of telemedicine expansion on the increase in EHR usage by physicians, particularly in the context of documenting patient visits. The findings emphasize the need for healthcare systems and policymakers to reevaluate productivity expectations and reimbursement policies to address the growing burden of EHR documentation on physicians. These insights provide valuable perspectives on the changing landscape of healthcare, driven by the continued growth of telemedicine in patient care.
