Clearwater Research Firm Takes Pulse of Medical Apps Industry

Doug Brown, a partner at Black Book Research, has a finger on the racing pulse of technology makers developing mobile apps for patient records.

Brown told American Medical News that his market research firm tracked 710 vendors that service doctors' offices with electronic records. More than a third are implementing mobile apps. 

The reason? Physicians want mobile access. Now.

A component of health care reform is moving the volumes of paperwork involved in patient care to electronic records that are portable and go with the patient, allowing for easy tracking and better monitoring of quality in the health care industry.

Black Book is a market research firm based in Clearwater, and it is monitoring the emerging field of digital patient records. Here are some findings, according to American Medical News:

• 89% of primary care docs and internists use smartphones;
• 51% of all physicians use tablets;
• 100 % of physicians polled who use electronic records want mobile access. 

For more on this story, read Physician Demand Driving More EHRs to Go Mobile.