Why physicians are the missing piece of your digital strategy | Viewpoint

There is a common misconception in healthcare leadership circles that physicians are resistant to adopting digital tools. It’s even an oft-cited reason for systems failing to execute on their digital strategies. This is a myth.

On the contrary, many recent studies show that physician interest in digital tools and innovation is surging.

A March 2026 survey from the American Medical Association found that 81 percent of physicians use artificial intelligence in their practices, more than double the 2023 rate of 38 percent. Similarly, an industry study of U.S. health system executives and physicians published in June found that 71 percent of physicians are open to using wearable-generated data in clinical decision making.

The reality is that front-line care teams are not opposed to technology adoption altogether. What they reject, industry data shows, is change that does not demonstrate clear value for clinicians or their patients and change that was made without their input.

For example, the study released in June shows that more than 40 percent of physicians cite infrastructure challenges that add clinical burdens, such as potential additional workload or too much unfiltered data, as barriers to broader adoption.

The interest in new digital tools is significant among physicians, but the technology presented to them has by and large not yet met their needs or the processes are too onerous to implement in an already busy day. This executive oversight is one of the most overlooked reasons why digital strategies fail on the front lines.

The key misalignment between frontline users and executives emerges in what they think is most important for success.

Data from the June research revealed that only one-third of executives identify clinician adoption and workflow integration as crucial for digital health success, while more than half of clinicians say workflow integration is the single most important prerequisite for clinical utility. Executives often evaluate digital investments through the lens of strategy, operational efficiency, and enterprise transformation. Clinicians evaluate them by asking if they can use the solution in the course of caring for patients.

Yet, so often, the frontline users are left out of system-wide technology strategy decisions.

Technology is purchased without giving physicians a seat at the table – leading to lagging adoption.

Physicians are communicating a clear message in this data: Technology is not the only factor impacting adoption and scale. The whole program, from the concept to the workflow and everything in between, is often created, scoped and deployed without enough clinical voices at the table at every step.

Technology cannot be simply purchased without the end users having a say and deployed under the assumption that adoption will follow as a result of training.

If workflow integration is a primary determinant of clinical utility, then adoption is determined when buying decisions are made, before training begins. However, by the time physicians are being asked to use new tools, the conditions and metrics for success have often already been established.

Health systems spend enormous resources every year on change management and physician education. These are important initiatives, but data suggests enthusiasm cannot be engineered after deployment and broad adoption cannot be achieved for tools that do not meet the primary needs of physicians.

Why it's more important than ever to ensure the physician's voice is represented in digital strategies.

One encouraging finding from the recently published study is that executives and physicians agree on most of the outcomes that digital health should support.

They both want better care coordination, more effective patient engagement, and more proactive care.

This common ground, coupled with ongoing clinician adoption of digital tools and the fact that the federal government just launched a bold new initiative to encourage broader adoption of digital tools with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Advancing Chronic Care with Effective, Scalable Solutions (ACCESS) Model, creates a real opportunity to reshape digital strategy right now.

Engage clinicians early and often to truly achieve digitally enabled care.

For years, the industry has been seeking answers on why digital health has not produced the impact it has promised on outcomes, costs, and experience.

But we now know that one of the biggest barriers to all of these benefits – adoption – is not due to a lack of physician interest.

The challenge is making digital health work in a way that aligns with the needs of the end-users, physicians, care teams, and patients.

Digital strategy isn’t just a technology problem – it requires equal focus on people and process. Organizations that do so in a way that provides clear benefit for those using it on the front lines from day one are poised to be the most successful.

Ricky Choi, MD, MPH, is strategic medical advisor at Xealth and head of digital health at Samsung Electronics America.