Information technology is truly transforming the healthcare industry by helping improve processes, streamline workflows and reduce costs. It presents a unique set of opportunities which were non-existent before. Patients are more informed now about matters related to their healthcare, thanks to the availability of a wide range of mobile devices and healthcare information. The advances in information technology also provide an opportunity for physicians to take their practice with them wherever they go, and still be able to manage it remotely.

A Deloitte report says that 73% of all physicians believe that health information technology will improve the quality of care provided in the long term.  Mobile health technology could be a “valuable partner in healthcare’s paradigm shift towards a delivery model that is patient-centered and value-based,” said Greenspun H, Coughlin S. in “mHealth in an mWorld.”

Yet, nearly 6 in 10 physicians are non-users, and don’t employ mobile health technologies like tablets or smart phones  for clinical purposes, such as for accessing EHRs, e-Prescribing, and communicating with other health care professionals.

Non-users cite failure of the worksite to provide such devices and their own unwillingness or inability to use their personal devices (44%), as a major limitation, more so than concerns about patient privacy (29%) or that the apps and programs are not suited to their needs (26%). In the near future, however, one in five (22%) non-users intend to use mobile health technologies.

Physicians do understand that health information technology solutions have the potential to improve the quality of care delivery while reducing their administrative and financial concerns. They believe that decision-support algorithms have the potential to cut errors and save the healthcare system a lot of money, by passing a big share of patient care to clinicians who are less trained and less expensive, leaving specialist physicians to focus on more complex cases and interventions.

However, there needs to be a balance in all of this. The last thing modern medicine needs is more machines and less humanity. Patients have often complained of how they feel disconnected to their physicians as the physicians are spending more and more time behind computer screens. However, health information technology is still evolving, and will eventually transform into a “less disruptive” mode of communication between the patient and doctor. As of now, patient portals are already fulfilling this purpose by better engaging patients and giving them more control over managing their health.

Enabling machines to handle data storage and processing tasks will invariably make them perform more accurately and efficiently than we are doing at the moment. Additionally, it will also liberate us from the additional computational burden we’ve created for ourselves.

If phase one of modern medicine is to acquire the scientific knowledge and concepts to dramatically improve healthcare outcomes, phase two is about designing information systems to unburden the working memories of the physicians, as well as their calendars, leaving more room for the human side of medicine, which I believe will always do better than machines in regards to caring for patients.