You’ve Got Mail… But It’s Not From Your Doctor
A new report from the Center for Studying Health System Change finds that only 6.7% of doctors routinely email their patients; despite the fact that more than one-third (34.5%) of physicians have access to the technology at work. In fact, email is the least-used information technology in physicians’ offices. Nearly one-third prescribe electronically. About half of physicians routinely access patient notes and medication lists electronically.More than three-quarter of physicians can view lab results, diagnostic tests and radiology reports electronically; and six-in-ten do so routinely.
Here’s why so few doctor communicate with their patients by email… “Physician concerns about increased workload without reimbursement, uncertainty about impacts on quality of care, and challenges related to data privacy and security and medical liability have hindered adoption and use of e-mail to communicate with patients.”
The main reason is no payment. Emailing is nonbillable time.
Congress thinks we can solve this problem by getting better computers for doctors. Maybe flatscreen monitors and wireless keyboards will help.
Concierge doctors e-mail patients. But that’s because they get paid in a different way — by patients and not by insurance companies.
I’ve seen several case studies — mostly by HMSA – Blue Cross Blue Shield of Hawaii and Kaiser Permante in California. When people have access to a doctor by email they make fewer in-office visits. The eVisits tend to be cheaper.
Email is actually quite insecure in most cases. If you read it at a wireless cafe, expect that anyone else in the room can read it (including hackers who have malware installed on one of the machines). Sending patients to a website over HTTPS is a better bet.