The Use Of Telemedicine By Physicians: Still The Exception Rather Than The Rule

Abstract

Using data from the American Medical Association's 2016 Physician Practice Benchmark Survey, we provide the first nationally representative estimates of physicians' use of telemedicine. In 2016, 15.4 percent of physicians worked in practices that used telemedicine for a wide spectrum of patient interactions, including e-visits as well as diagnoses made by radiologists who used telemedicine to store and forward data. In the same year, 11.2 percent of physicians worked in practices that used telemedicine for interactions between physicians and health care professionals. We found that in addition to specialty, larger practice size was an important correlate of telemedicine use. This suggests that despite regulatory and legislative changes to encourage the use of telemedicine, the financial burden of implementing it may be a continuing barrier for small practices.