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March 5, 2005

 
Take Two Aspirins and E-Mail Me in the Morning

This makes my third non-PDA-related post in a row, but I'm curious to hear what others think of this.

Thanks to cold and flu season, most doctors' offices are exceptionally busy this time of year. In addition to patient visits, telephone volume also soars. This strains office resources, and may cause dissatisfaction for patients who either can't get appointments quickly enough, or may have to wait longer than usual for a response after they call.

A recent article in the online version of the New York Times examines doctor-patient e-mail communication, which offers one possible solution to the volume problem, particularly phone calls. It seems some insurance payors are even reimbursing physicians for e-mail communications. Hmm...getting paid for what you do. Now, that's a novel idea! ;-)

Sydney Smith over at medpundit also talks about the article, and is apparently trying out RelayHealth, a Web-based doctor-patient e-mail service that costs $49/mo.

Thoughts, anyone?
posted by Kent 11:03 AM | |

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