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Med."],"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:p>The COVID-19 pandemic has boosted digital health utilization, raising concerns about increased physicians\u2019 after-hours clinical work (\"work-outside-work\u201d). The surge in patients\u2019 digital messages and additional time spent on work-outside-work by telemedicine providers underscores the need to evaluate the connection between digital health utilization and physicians\u2019 after-hours commitments. We examined the impact on physicians\u2019 workload from two types of digital demands - patients\u2019 messages requesting medical advice (<jats:italic>PMAR<\/jats:italic>s) sent to physicians\u2019 inbox (inbasket), and telemedicine. Our study included 1716 ambulatory-care physicians in New York City regularly practicing between November 2022 and March 2023. Regression analyses assessed primary and interaction effects of (<jats:italic>PMAR<\/jats:italic>s) and telemedicine on work-outside-work. The study revealed a significant effect of <jats:italic>PMAR<\/jats:italic>s on physicians\u2019 work-outside-work and that this relationship is moderated by physicians\u2019 specialties. Non-primary care physicians or specialists experienced a more pronounced effect than their primary care peers. Analysis of their telemedicine load revealed that primary care physicians received fewer <jats:italic>PMAR<\/jats:italic>s and spent less time in work-outside-work with more telemedicine. Specialists faced increased <jats:italic>PMAR<\/jats:italic>s and did more work-outside-work as telemedicine visits increased which could be due to the difference in patient panels. Reducing <jats:italic>PMAR<\/jats:italic> volumes and efficient inbasket management strategies needed to reduce physicians\u2019 work-outside-work. Policymakers need to be cognizant of potential disruptions in physicians carefully balanced workload caused by the digital health services.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1038\/s41746-024-01001-2","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,14]],"date-time":"2024-02-14T19:02:46Z","timestamp":1707937366000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":22,"title":["Quantifying the impact of telemedicine and patient medical advice request messages on physicians' work-outside-work"],"prefix":"10.1038","volume":"7","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3602-703X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Soumik","family":"Mandal","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Batia M.","family":"Wiesenfeld","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2099-0852","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Devin M.","family":"Mann","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0066-4400","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Adam C.","family":"Szerencsy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Eduardo","family":"Iturrate","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6410-2995","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Oded","family":"Nov","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"1001_CR1","unstructured":"Friedberg, M. 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