A sign of the times—enough physicians are online that pharmaceutical companies now find it worthwhile to market new medications to doctors via the Internet. “E-detailing” isn’t about to replace the sales reps’ visits to physician offices, but one analyst’s numbers say the Internet already gives the drug companies a better return on their investment. 

Three recently released surveys of U.S. doctors indicate that 2002 may be the turning point in terms of physicians’ use of information technology. The bottom line is this: your offices are wired, you’re online, and you’re wireless. More surprisingly, one of these reports boldly concludes that this new technology is changing the way you care for your patients. The numbers all seem a bit high to this observer, but the trend is obvious and the reports thought provoking.

In Your Hand

Almost half of all internists use handheld computers or personal digital assistants (PDAs) in their practice, according to the American College of Physicians–American Society of Internal Medicine (ACP-ASIM). By the end of 2002, that figure will climb to two-thirds of internists.

Overwhelmingly, the most common medical use for the PDA is accessing drug information, the ACP-ASIM survey of 489 member internists in direct patient care found. To a much smaller extent, the survey respondents also are using their handhelds to look up standard lab values, refer to medical textbooks and help in billing and coding.

Going Paperless

More than one in five medical practices now use electronic medical records (EMRs) to store patient information, and an astounding two-thirds are “considering implementing” such a system, the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) announced in October 2001. Of course, more than half of those in the “considering” category say it will be a year or more before EMR becomes a priority.

The survey of 593 practices found that, of those who “have implemented a fully operational, organization-wide EMR system,”

• 67.4 percent say the use of EMRs has increased physician and provider satisfaction,

• 44.2 percent report increased patient satisfaction,

• 35.7 percent report they are seeing more patients,

• 34.9 percent report increased reimbursement levels from payers, and

• 25.6 percent say it has decreased costs.

Not surprisingly, the No. 1 “barrier to implementation of EMRs in group practice,” regardless of practice size, was a “lack of resources to invest.”

The Net Made Me Do It

The most exciting and detailed findings, and the most startling, come from a report by the Boston Consulting Group based on a Harris Interactive nationwide survey of 400 practicing physicians. The study “indicates that a large percentage of doctors are using the Web and finding that it has a major impact on their medical knowledge, their efficiency, and the care they provide to their patients.”

First, some basic numbers from the survey:

• 89 percent of the respondents use the Internet.

• Of those online, 90 percent research clinical matters, including information on treatments and the latest medical news, and 78 percent read journal articles online.

• The more hours per week a practitioner spends with patients, the more likely he or she is to seek medical information on the Internet.

• 26 percent of physicians communicate with patients online, 22 percent use EMR (consistent with the MGMA report), 11 percent use electronic prescribing techniques, and five percent have tried remote disease monitoring.

So you’re surfing the Web. Everyone does it. What difference does it make? Quite a bit, according to Boston Consulting, whose survey found that the information physicians find online has a major impact on:

• Their knowledge about new treatments, including drugs (34 percent),

• Their knowledge about symptoms and possible diagnoses (21 percent),

• The way they interact with their patients (19 percent),

• Their prescription of drugs (13 percent), and

• The types of diagnoses they have made (11 percent).

Boston Consulting calls these physicians “the first wave of e-health practitioners.” If that’s the case, the next wave isn’t far behind. When you add in those who say online material has a minor impact on their knowledge and behavior, you end up with 73 to 93 percent of online physicians. That’s 65 to 83 percent of all U.S. physicians.

Finally, it won’t surprise you to learn just who wants to know these numbers. Take a look at, and be prepared for, the online barrage that most likely will follow, two of Boston Consulting’s conclusions: “Drug companies, MCOs (managed care organizations), and other players should realign their offline and online marketing strategies and resources to more fully exploit the richness, reach, and interactivity that the Internet channel provides.” And “In an environment of increased financial and competitive pressures, pharmaceutical companies, MCOs, and health care delivery systems cannot afford to ignore the potential advantages that online knowledge enrichment tools offer.”