A new study led by Michigan State University researchers shows a significant increase in telemedicine services offered by U.S. hospitals from 2017 to 2022, while also highlighting persistent barriers to its full implementation.
The comprehensive analysis of telemedicine adoption in U.S. hospitals during these years reveals both significant progress and ongoing challenges in the health care sector's digital transformation.
The study, published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine , found that the percentage of hospitals offering at least one form of telemedicine service increased from 46% in 2017 to 72% in 2021, with a dramatic surge in patient utilization during the COVID-19 pandemic. Led by John (Xuefeng) Jiang, Eli Broad Endowed Professor of accounting and information systems at Michigan State University, the research team analyzed data from the American Hospital Association's annual surveys and AHA IT Supplemental Survey, which provides information about electronic medical records, interoperability, health information exchange barriers, reporting, and degree of electronic transition, to explain telemedicine's growth and the obstacles hindering its full potential. Our findings demonstrate the rapid acceleration of telemedicine adoption, particularly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, we also uncovered significant disparities in implementation across different hospital types and persistent challenges in health information exchange that need to be addressed.
