Health systems that drive the buy-in of physicians at an early stage are more likely to achieve overwhelming physician adoption of care coordination focused mHealth apps. Without effective communication and knowledge sharing most physicians are especially resistant to using secure messaging apps.

The journey to ensuring your clinicians’ texting is HIPAA compliant begins long before your secure messaging mHealth provider search. Equally as important as selecting a suitable provider is that your physicians are actively using the secure messaging app.

To secure the support of physicians as early as possible, follow these four steps:

1. Educate physicians on how secure text solutions can better support and impact their daily workflows.

For physicians to choose texting within a secure text application over their phone’s operating system, they will need to derive utility beyond what their phone’s standard texting service supports. The best secure text applications have been developed with care coordination and workflow management features that provide utility for physicians beyond simply securing messages.

Health system leaders can build excitement around these areas of added value that secure text solutions provide to physicians by delivering insights related to:

• Mobile access of patient data stored in the EHR
• Secure texting
• Care coordination and collaboration
• Patient scheduling and communication portals

2. Get physician input before evaluating and selecting a secure text solution provider.

Health system leaders can derive insights from the input of physicians that will result in choosing the best secure text solution for their physicians.

By surveying physicians, health system leaders can:

• Validate the needs of physicians
• Gain insight into how physicians are currently using texting
• Identify physicians’ concerns with adopting a new mobile technology
• Identify early mobile technology adopters
• Identify and communicate key training areas based on physician feedback for secure text solution providers to address
• Better evaluate the benefits and impact of each secure text solution’s features

3. Devise and share a checklist of the criteria your health system will use to select a secure texting solution with physicians.

To maximize value derived from a survey of physicians’ secure texting needs,  health system leaders should keep the lines of communication open after the results of the survey have been determined. Doctors want to feel included in the hospital’s plans.

A steady flow of communication will further signal that physicians are active stakeholders in the secure texting decision making process. First, communicate the summarized key learnings of the survey to physicians, and how you will use them to evaluate secure texting providers. As the decision making journey progresses, provide a continuous stream of succinct updates to physicians on the selection process.

The ultimate goal of this initiative is for physicians to feel that they are stakeholders in the success of the health system’s secure texting initiative before a provider is chosen.

4. Recruit physicians to serve as Secure Texting Coaches.

Secure Texting Coaches can be recruited from those physicians previously surveyed and identified as early mobile technology adopters.

These coaches should receive training on how to use the secure texting application and, along with selected members of their care team, serve as pilot users of the technology. As mobile technology enthusiasts, they will welcome the opportunity to become experts whose knowledge will be highly esteemed by their fellow peers and provide feedback directly to the technology provider.

Once access to the secure text application is offered to all physicians and clinicians these coaches will advocate the many ways that the secure texting solution provides utility beyond simply securing text messaging.

For more insights into how surveying fosters physician adoption of health IT systems, read our case study of a large medical center that used surveying to overcome barriers to physician adoption of the EHR.