With patient access to telehealth technology growing by leaps and bounds, a new analysis shows physicians are also starting to jump on the high-speed bandwagon.

Doximity, an online networking service for medical professionals, found that the number of doctors who report they have telemedicine skills doubled between 2015 and 2018, with expected annual increases of 20%.

Overall, 25% percent of physicians said they are able to use telehealth tools, though it did not determine how often they actually did so on the job.

Those in radiology, psychiatry and internal medicine were most likely to express an interest in telemedicine job postings. Geriatricians also ranked in the Top 10.

Long-term care providers and affiliated stakeholders have clearly become more enamored with the technology, although payment and regulatory mechanisms are still a sticking point in many instances.

Study authors said it is important to understand how physicians gain telehealth skills if healthcare stakeholders want to bring mobile technologies to the masses. Patients surely want easier access, they contend.

According to one study published in JAMA, telemedicine patient visits, increased annually by 261% between 2015 and 2017.

“Without much support from policy makers, physicians do seem to be gravitating to telemedicine on their own,” the report said. “Physicians’ increasing interest in telemedicine … will help more patients get access to care. Whether it be a late-night call about an infant’s health from a new mother, a video chat with a mental healthcare provider, or a patient who lives 100 miles from the closest hospital having a follow-up visit with a provider, doctors and patients alike are using and benefiting from the rise of telemedicine across the country.”

The data showed that female physicians were 10% more interested in telemedicine job opportunities, relative to their male counterparts. But age was less a factor, rebutting a previous American Well survey that said younger physicians were more interested in telemedicine. The Doximity analysis found that actual engagement with job postings remained consistent across all age groups. More than 23% of physicians between ages 50 and 60 engaged with telemedicine opportunities