OBJECTIVES: Engagement with patients has entered the digital age. Using text, e-mail and portals, patients can communicate with providers and view medical records. Health data collected through smartphone pedometers, and active patient engagement through medication adherence or quality of life applications continue to develop. We evaluated how community oncologists currently engage with patients and digital health data to understand gaps and barriers to technology adoption.

METHODS: A live meeting in November 2018 convened a representative sample of US-based community oncologists. Participants attended a discussion session entitled “Technology Advancements in Patient Support Services” and responded to questions via an audience response system.

RESULTS: 57 community oncologists participated. In addition to face-to-face communication, phone calls (not including scheduling calls) were the most frequently used method for patient engagement (88%), followed by patient portals (73%). Email and text messaging were used by 32% and 23% of providers, respectively. Providers stated that new forms of communication increased the frequency of contact but did not provide valuable data, and the lack of reimbursement for these activities was problematic. 43% of providers reported that digital health apps and devices were used often by patients, but only 28% stated they would review this information (the remainder deemed this data had no value).

CONCLUSIONS: Digital avenues for patient engagement are readily available but more than two-thirds of providers still rely (and/or trust) direct communication, phone conversation or patient portal contact. Information gathered via controlled communication may be viewed as more valuable because the information is of higher quality (structured/filtered), directly related to the care to be delivered (as opposed to digital health application data), and requires less time to collect compared to other methods.