Physicians consider wide range of concerns when deciding whether to e-mail patients
HIPAA Weekly Advisor, August 27, 2007
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to HIPAA Weekly Advisor!
A study of Permanente's KP HealthConnect, published in the July issue of American Journal of Managed Care, found that physicians who e-mail their patients experience a decrease in patient visits. This raises financial concerns for physicians, who aren't able to bill for time spent e-mailing, says the American Medical News. According to the article, however, there are plenty of physicians who believe that the decreased number of visits due to e-mail access to physicians simply makes room for those patients who have serious and urgent conditions.
Besides the financial concerns, there are also questions about the privacy and security of e-mail. Jasmine Moghissi, a family physician in solo practice in Fairfax, VA, says that she never uses patient names or specific test types in e-mails, and that her patients need to sign release forms before they even receive her e-mails, according to the American Medical News article.
Click here for more information.
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to HIPAA Weekly Advisor!
Related Products
Most Popular
- Articles
-
- Q/A: Volume requirement for reporting hydration services
- Featured blog post: Nurses face felony charges after reporting physician to the Texas Medical Board
- Catch up on what's new with injections and infusions
- Topic: CMS, OESS post new security compliance review information, checklist
- What does case-mix index mean to you?
- Capturing all necessary codes for IUD insertion and removal can be challenging
- QA:Coding multiple initial infusions
- News and briefs: Oklahoma Osteopathic Association against residency bill change
- HIPAA Q&A: Level of encryption needed for email
- OB services: Coding inside and outside of the package
- E-mailed
-
- Q/A: Volume requirement for reporting hydration services
- Featured blog post: Nurses face felony charges after reporting physician to the Texas Medical Board
- Catch up on what's new with injections and infusions
- New conflicts of interest create new challenges
- Q/A. One injection code or two?
- What does case-mix index mean to you?
- Q&A tackles coding questions about injections and infusions
- Joint Commission Center announces handoff communication solutions
- Inside best practice: Reduce patient falls with a stoplight
- Identify modifiable risk factors to prevent patient falls
- Searched