COVID-19 has accelerated healthcare innovation, but tech adoption is still lagging behind several industries, according to an Aug. 9 Google Cloud report.
Six notes:
- Nine in 10 physicians said they currently use telehealth, compared to just 32 percent pre-pandemic.
- More than half (62 percent) of physicians said the pandemic forced their healthcare organization to make tech upgrades that would normally have taken several years.
- Nearly half (48 percent) of physicians would like to have access to telehealth capabilities in the next five years.
- Most physicians (64 percent) said the healthcare industry lags behind gaming in digital adoption, followed by 56 percent who said it lags behind telecommunications and 53 percent who said it lags behind financial services.
- Most physicians (74 percent) said they have heard of HHS' interoperability rule that launched in 2019. Nearly half (48 percent) of physicians who have heard of the rule said they are in favor, but 46 percent of physicians said they are unsure.
- Seven in 10 physicians said the biggest benefit of the interoperability rule is that it could force EHRs to be interoperable with other EHR systems.