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Physicians' Acceptance of Web-Based Medical Assessment Systems: Findings from a National Survey

Authors: Bengisu Tulu, Brian Hilton and Thomas Horan*

Abstract:Providing timely and accurate medical evaluation information is a challenge in the health care industry. Companies providing medical assessments in this industry are utilizing technology to meet this challenge and to continuously improve performance and functionality. Physician acceptance is a critical factor for successful medical assessment system implementations. This research in progress paper reports on a recently completed national survey of physicians who provide disability assessments, a subset of medical assessments. Accurate and timely information is of vital importance especially regarding disability claim cases as any delay can increase the time to process a claim significantly. Based on 141 completed surveys (a 52% response rate) of a nationwide physician network this study examined physicians' completion of disability evaluations using a Web-based system. While use of the Internet as a medical "library" has been widely studied, this study considered the next step: providing physicians with an online means to complete and submit disability assessments in real-time. This research devised a social-technical model to explore physicians' acceptance of Web-based work process systems. This social- technical model is based on four main classes: Social-demographics, Perceived Readiness, Work Practice Compatibility, and Physician Attitude. Preliminary results indicate that Perceived Readiness and Work Practice Compatibility affect physicians' behavioral intent to use the Web-based disability assessment systems. For example, the more often the physician uses computer systems, the more willing they are to be early volunteers to use the system - 81.9% of the physicians use computer systems frequently, at least several times a week. Additionally, physicians who dictate the medical assessment report using a transcription service will not likely be early volunteers to use the system. These findings will be used to devise recommendations for targeting early online adopters among physician networks.

Keywords: Medical informatics, technology acceptance, end-user acceptance, Web-based systems, physician acceptance

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*This study was conducted as part of a cooperative research agreement between Claremont Graduate University and the QTC Management, Inc.