4 percent of doctors have made at least one blog posting in the last year: Vanguard survey

On the heels of a report by Pew Research Center revealing that 35 percent of Americans use the Internet to figure out a medical condition, an independent survey finds that only one-third of physicians in three American cities offer direct website help to health care consumers trying to understand their symptoms.

In an analysis of 300 doctors with the highest patient-satisfaction ratings in Boston, Denver and Portland, OR, the medical marketing firm Vanguard Communications found 69 percent of the physicians have websites.

However, only 33 percent of those doctors’ sites provided much more than online biographies and general practice information – just 99 doctors have websites offering patient-centered information on medical conditions and possible treatments.

The portion of physicians using their websites to update patients on research and trends that could affect their health was even smaller: only 4 percent (12 doctors) had made at least one blog posting in the last year.

“Doctors in these cities are still using their websites primarily as electronic brochures about their practices rather than as online health resources,” said Ron Harman King, Vanguard CEO.

Doctors certainly have no legal or ethical obligation to do any more, King noted, especially when online health encyclopedias abound on the Internet. Nonetheless, offering more health information online could create a win-win for providers.

Vanguard’s analysis spanned three medical specialties: urologists, orthopedic surgeons, and obstetricians-gynecologists. To select the physician sample, the firm chose doctors with the highest patient-satisfaction ratings on HealthGrades.com, an Internet company that provides quality and safety ratings of health providers. All 300 physicians had “100-percent patient satisfaction” ratings.

More details of the survey are at VanguardCommunications.net.

Can you “hear” me now? Telemedicine networks save critical time

Today's blog is written by Layne Shapiro, one of our brand engagement managers.

With new technologies available, how can the healthcare industry improve patient care while maintaining patient confidentiality? Remote access improves efficiencies across many industries, and it’s finally beginning to be implemented in the healthcare industry.

Patient privacy concerns have slowed the healthcare industry from moving to remote access solutions. With the passing of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the demand for privacy and security of electronic healthcare information has increased. With HIPPA, compliance is not a choice - it’s a requirement. Since remote access can lower costs, raise productivity and improve patient care, there is an increase interest in providing remote access while maintaining patient privacy.

Healthcare professionals frequently require timely access to confidential patient information in order to provide the highest quality care, which in some cases can mean the difference between life and death. With Skype and Google Videochat already offering live-streaming video communication, it only makes sense to use this technology to improve access to healthcare via telemedicine. Now doctors can view patients from anywhere telemedicine is available online instead of staying at the office all hours. Expert specialty physicians practice at specialized centers and have limited accessibility. With the use of live-streaming video and audio communication, access to care will be increased and critical time can be saved improving diagnosis and increasing the frequency of appropriate treatment choice.

Eventually, if telemedicine networks connect with a majority of the specialty physicians it would increase access to care for people through the world. This would allow for preliminary review immediately, even if the patient requires a visit during the night. With increased access to care, the demand for the highest quality of care would increase and we could begin to see outsourcing for initial diagnosis.