The term ‘digital health’ refers to a variety of digitally mediated healthcare tools that operate on individual, hospital-wide, and population-wide levels (1). These include electronically recorded health care data and communications applications used in hospitals (1). Digital health offers exciting possibilities for making health care more convenient, accessible, and personalized. However, this means that doctors’ roles in health care institutions are changing. Already, many doctors and other health care workers are reporting strain between their clinical responsibilities and new expectations related to new digital systems. There is ongoing debate on doctors’ digital responsibilities and physicians’ roles in effectively implementing digital technologies into healthcare settings.
In the last few years, more than half of all Americans have transitioned to having their health information housed in a digital system created by Epic, a private health software company (4). In theory, digitalization makes communication between different departments and between physicians and patients more streamlined and increases data quality and readability (2). However, clunky user interface design and the learning curve experienced by hospital staff in internalizing new digital systems has created resistance and frustration among many physicians (4).
In addition to using digital systems, many doctors have transitioned to more business-related roles for health care institutions as they interact with digital health products and services (7). For example, doctors’ responsibilities may now include providing feedback to health companies on digital products and aiding in user research (7). As a result, doctors’ responsibilities have expanded from purely clinical work to include research and product-related roles (7).
Personalization is one of the main advantages offered by digital health. In one study of pregnant women at high risk of pregnancy complications, patients monitored their blood pressure at home daily and recorded the results in a digital health system that was shared with health care providers (5). Information collected through this remote monitoring empowered patients to be more involved in the decision-making process and helped them prepare for consultations with providers (5). For providers, more data meant that there was more information to better understand the full clinical picture.
However, digital health care still faces many barriers before we can realize the goal of making health care more accessible and equitable. For example, beginning in November of 2022, Cleveland Clinic began billing patients for MyChart messages that required a provider’s clinical time (3). Patients can be charged between $33 – $50 for messages about medication changes, new symptoms, or requests for medical forms if their insurance does not cover MyChart messaging or if they need to meet a deductible (3). As a result, health care costs could climb for those who routinely communicate with their providers through the MyChart platform. On the other hand, proponents of this change argue that doctors’ increasing digital responsibilities should be recognized and should receive compensation.
In this changing landscape of digital health, doctors must take on new responsibilities as part of their profession. Namely, doctors’ roles may shift from collecting data and making diagnoses on their own to collaborating more frequently with other hospital staff and patients in decision-making. Furthermore, doctors will become more responsible for interpreting data that is collected by other hospital personnel or outside of the hospital with their medical expertise.
Additionally, doctors are responsible for maintaining clear medical records on electronic health systems and communicating with other providers and patients through digital software. At the moment, these softwares remain clumsy in aspects such as aggregating health data in meaningful ways or allowing doctors to better understand social and environmental factors at play in a patient’s health (1). Further innovation, research, and physician involvement is necessary to make digital health care tools more effective for both patients and health care providers alike.
References
- Abernethy et al. “The Promise of Digital Health: Then, Now, and the Future.” NAM Perspectives, National Academy of Medicine, 27 June 2022, doi: 10.31478/202206e
- Burmann et al. “The Role of Physicians in Digitalizing Health Care Provision: Web-Based Survey Study.” JMIR Med Inform, 11 Nov 2021, vol. 9, no. 11, doi: 10.2196/31527
- Dyrda, Laurą. “Cleveland Clinic to bill up to $50 for MyChart messages.” Becker’s Health IT, 15 Nov 2022, www.beckershospitalreview.com/healthcare-information-technology/cleveland-clinic-to-bill-up-to-50-for-mychart-messages.html
- Gawande, Atul. “Why Doctors Hate Their Computers.” The New Yorker, 12 Nov 2018, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/11/12/why-doctors-hate-their-computers
- Jongsma et al. “How digital health affects the patient-physician relationship: An empirical-ethics study into the perspectives and experiences in obstetric care.” Pregnancy Hypertension, vol. 25, pp. 81-86. August 2021, doi: 10.1016/j.preghy.2021.05.017
- Safir, Sabur et al. “Acceptance and Resistance of New Digital Technologies in Medicine: Qualitative Study.” JMIR Research Protocols, vol. 7, no. 12. 4 Dec 2018, doi: 10.2196/11072
- Zieger, Anne. “The Role of The Digital Health Doctor Continues To Expand.” Healthcare IT Today, 14 Jan 2021, www.healthcareittoday.com/2021/01/14/the-role-of-the-digital-health-doctor-continues-to-expand/
