The impact of health information technology and e-Health on the future demand for physician services | HealthAffairs

Health information technology (IT) and electronic health (e-health) applications. Such applications designed for providers and patients will affect the future demand for physicians. 

This is a comprehensive review of the literature to date, including previously published systematic reviews and relevant individual studies. The authors estimate that:

• If health IT were fully implemented in 30 percent of community-based physicians’ offices, the demand for physicians would be reduced by about 4–9 percent. 
• Delegation of care to nurse practitioners and physician assistants supported by health IT could reduce the future demand for physicians by 4–7 percent. 
• IT-supported delegation from specialist physicians to generalists could reduce the demand for specialists by 2–5 percent. 
• The use of health IT could also help address regional shortages of physicians by potentially enabling 12 percent of care to be delivered remotely or asynchronously.