Wait times to see a doctor are dropping but less than one-third of all patients make use of their hospital’s digital data portal to access their healthcare information, says a new survey from the Medical Group Management Association.

The survey of 1,200 medical group practices and related organizations also finds that patients use portals offered by their primary care physician even less. Portals allow patients to access test results, view personal health records, fill out forms in advance of appointments, facilitate doctor and patient communication, schedule appointments, pay bills and house important medical information. But only 30% of patients who visit hospital-owned practices use the portal, whereas physician-owned practices see less usage at only 10% to 15%, according to the MGMA.

Among all specialties, primary care practices report the highest use for patient portals compared to other specialties at 35%.

Accessing test results was the main reason 29% of patients used a digital healthcare portal of any type, with bill payments, communicating with providers and medical staff, downloading or transmitting medical records and scheduling appointments coming in closely behind at 28%, the MGMA says.

U.S. medical practices also report that wait times at the doctor’s office has improved by five minutes from last year, down to an average of 20 minutes total between the waiting area and the exam room. For hospital-owned practices specifically, that number goes down to an average of 17 minutes, the MGMA says.

“Medical practices face a variety of challenges today, and among the most addressable are practice operations which tend to separate top performing practices from the rest,” says Medical Group Management Association CEO Dr. Halee Fischer-Wright.

Other survey findings include:

• Based on the third next available appointment slot for established patients, physician-owned practices can see patients up to two days sooner (within three days) than hospital-owned practices (five days).
• Multispecialty practices reported the slowest speed to answer incoming calls in about 49 seconds, with surgical specialties reporting the quickest time at 13.5 seconds to answer an inbound call.
• Nearly three fourths of practices (74%) report conducting patient satisfaction surveys after every patient visit, with only 3% of practices stating they never conduct patient surveys.
• Medical billers at group practices report posting an average of 132 claims per day, with less than 5% of claims being denied on first submission.