Physicians Offer Mixed Views About Emailing With Their Patients

Some physicians find that emailing with patients saves time and money, but  others have concerns about the practice, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Benefits of Emailing With Patients

Physicians who email with their patients say the practice:

• Is a convenient way to communicate about patient care;
• Avoids the challenges of reaching patients by phone; and
• Helps prevent patients from inaccurately diagnosing their health  conditions using the Internet.

Andrew Martorella — an endocrinologist in New York — said that if he did  not email with patients, he likely would need at least one extra staff member to  field patients’ phone calls. He added that emailing with patients has  “definitely made a big change in terms of reducing costs, especially for solo  practitioners.”

Concerns About Emailing With Patients

Physicians who do not communicate with patients via email cite concerns about  the practice, including:

• Inconvenience;
• Potential legal liability;
• Lack of reimbursement for emailing with patients;
• Risk of miscommunicating about important health information; and
• Privacy and security issues.

Andrew Adesman — chief of developmental pediatrics at Steven & Alexandra  Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York — said he prefers office visits and  phone calls to emailing with patients. “Often times brevity has the potential to  compromise clarity,” he said.

Comments About Secure Communication

Jane Thorpe — an associate professor of health policy at George Washington  University — said that doctors should use a secure system — such as an  encrypted message or protected portal — to communicate with patients instead of  using personal email.

Peter Dehnel — a Minneapolis-based pediatrician who is chair of the American  Academy of Pediatrics — said that AAP and other industry groups are working to  develop guidelines for physicians’ electronic communications (Reddy, Wall  Street Journal, 3/25).

Source: iHealthBeat

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