The Impact of IT on the Future Demand for Healthcare Providers
For the longest time, the relationship between the patient and health care provider has been one in which the provider supplies information to the patient regarding their illness, and thereafter provides a treatment plan or a recommendation to a specialist. The patient—not having the necessary training or expertise—would take the advice from the physician and follow through with the regimen.
Changes in the Healthcare Industry
More or less, this is still how the health care system operates today. However, there have been several changes throughout the past couple of decades that have greatly impacted the patient-provider relationship and health care industry, namely, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that was signed into law in 2010.
But, perhaps the change that has had the greatest impact on our health care system overall has been the advancement of health information technology (IT), electronic health (e-health) applications and personalized medicine.
E-health applications include the use of electronic health records (EHR), which allow healthcare providers and patients to access health records remotely; two-way patient-doctor digital communication such as e-mail, self-management tools, and digitally supported clinical decision support systems. There are several mobile health (m-health) applications as well that have impacted the industry and will in the future.
The Impact of e-Health and Health Information Technology on the Demand for Physicians
In a paper entitled, The Impact Of Health Information Technology And e-Health On The Future Demand For Physician Services, Jonathan Weiner and colleagues are convinced that “few factors will change the future face of the American health care workforce as widely and dramatically as health information technology (IT) and electronic health (e-health) applications.”
They argue that health IT and e-health applications will not only make health care run more efficiently but that they will reduce the demand for physicians and specialists. When health IT systems are fully implemented and interoperable, physicians are better able to delegate patient care to nurse practitioners and physician assistants.
Likewise, IT-supported delegation from specialists to generalists will give generalists more work and at the same time will reduce the demand for specialists, according to Weiner. So while the demand for physicians could be reduced, it seems that the need for nurse practitioners will be just as high.
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