Physicians Fear Loss Of Power Associated With Apps

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

One study says the mobile app revolution taking place is threatening doctors and causing them to slow the adoption of mobile tools

A PWC Survey - Emerging mHealth: Paths For Growth - revealed about half of patients surveyed believe mobile health initiatives will improve the convenience, cost, and quality of their healthcare. Conversely, only 27 percent of physicians encourage patients to use mobile health apps to become more active in managing their health, 13 percent actively discourage it.

The most telling statistic? Forty-two percent of physicians worry that mHealth will make patients too independent. "mHealth is about fundamentally changing the social contract between patients and doctors," said Eric Dishman, Intel's director of health innovation at the time of the 2012 PWC report. No wonder physicians are "likely to resist the loss of power implicit in greater patient control."

However, InformationWeek Healthcare author Paul Cerrato says this isn’t true of all clinicians. “I’ve spoken with countless physicians who welcome the advent of the "activated patient" and see value in mobile health,” Cerrato said. “A growing number of doctors also welcome a shared decision-making process with their patients and see the doctor/patient relationship as a partnership.”

“They do overgeneralize,” says Cerrato of the PWC report, since doctor protests about apps aren’t all about loss of control; there is a genuine concern of the quality of information patients are receiving via their mobile devices.

“The real solution to that last problem is not for physicians to discourage the use of mobile apps, it's better patient education. That means developing a trusting relationship with patients so that they believe you have their best interests at heart when you try to steer them away from untrustworthy mobile apps and websites,” concluded Cerrato.