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Digitization report 2019: Doctors want eHealth solutions that support diagnosis and workflows

Digitization report 2019: Doctors want eHealth solutions that support diagnosis and workflows

January 12, 2020

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Doctors are open to digitization, but they have clear requirements: They want to use eHealth applications if they make diagnoses easier and streamline everyday workflows.

This is shown in the current digitization report 2019, which DAK-Gesundheit und Ärzte Zeitung and EPatient RSD GmbH and numerous partners from the healthcare sector have collected. 2313 doctors from all over Germany were asked until October 31, 2018 about their attitudes towards digitization.

Study focus: electronic health record

How do doctors rate the possibilities of an electronic health record? Which digital options are already being used in the practices? How does digitalization change the relationship between doctor and patient? The study answers these and other questions. The core topic of the study is the possibilities of an electronic health record (eGA). A digital check of drug interactions using an eGA is rated positively by 71 percent of those surveyed, neutral by 21 percent. Using the eGA to request the results of their patients from other doctors sees every second doctor as an advantage for their own findings, a good third sees this as a time saver.

With an eGA, the relationship between doctor and patient changes: users have the opportunity to deal more intensively with their health data. The result: you come to the practice more informed. 29 percent of the doctors surveyed rated this scenario positively, a quarter viewed it negatively. Almost every second person is neutral about this development.

Some eHealth applications have become more popular

In comparison to the first digitization report 2018, some digital applications in the healthcare sector have become more popular. However, they are not yet more widely used. Awareness of the online consultation hour increased from 83 to 87 percent after the ban on exclusive remote treatment was relaxed in spring 2018. Nine percent of the physicians surveyed already had specific work to do with the online consultation (2018: eight percent). Only three percent state that they are actually planning such an offer or are already implementing it. 74 percent of doctors have heard of the eGA in 2019 – an increase of 22 percent compared to the previous year. The public discussion about patient-centered health records is also reflected here. However, only nine percent actually had anything to do with it. Three-quarters of the respondents have heard of the teleconsil for the professional exchange of X-ray and CT images (2018: 67 percent). A different picture emerges when making an appointment online: a good half of the doctors have already heard of this, 45 percent have already had a concrete connection to it.

The digitization report 2019 is a cooperation between DAK-Gesundheit and Ärzte Zeitung. It was created and evaluated by EPatient RSD GmbH. Other partners in the survey are the professional association of German internists, the German Society for Internal Medicine, the Hartmannbund, Monks Ärzte im Netz and the leading association of medical specialists in Germany.