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E-mail is what the patient wants, but not what the doctor ordered
EHR Connection, May 5, 2008
U.S. physicians like the convenience of e-mail for nonurgent medical issues, but recent surveys indicate fewer than one-third of them use it to communicate with their patients, Yahoo! News reported in an April 22 article.
Physician reluctance to communicate with patients via e-mail stems from a variety of reasons, according to the online article. Some think it will increase their workload and others fear hackers could compromise patient privacy even though most physicians who communicate with patients via e-mail do so through password-protected Web sites. Concern that patients will send urgent messages and not receive a prompt response is yet another reason.
Finally, most physicians don’t receive reimbursement from health insurers when they e-mail patients and any snafu can lead to potential liability, Yahoo! News reported.
Many patients would prefer using e-mail for prescription refill requests, obtaining laboratory results, and scheduling office visits, according to the article. But a survey by Manhattan Research, a healthcare market research and advisory services firm, found that only 31% of physicians e-mailed patients during the first quarter of 2007.
Click here to read the Yahoo! News article.
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