HIPAA Blog

[ Wednesday, March 02, 2005 ]

 

Doctors and email: Interesting article in the New York Times on the move toward the use of email by doctors. Some health plans will pay for it, which is a good thing. Obviously, encryption must be addressed (although, ahem, I think I might've mentioned that it's not required), and the patient must be comfortable with the use and risks of the medium, but as any blackberry addict will tell you, email's good and effective.

UPDATE: But, as reported in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required), patients polled say they won't pay for email encounters with their doctors. I question that result; if the option was going to the doctors' office and waiting to be seen, then paying your copay, versus email correspondence and paying the same copay (or, say, even 2 times the copay), I bet most patients would opt for email, even if more expensive. I would, just to avoid having to sit in the waiting room picking up whatever viruses are floating around.

Jeff [8:59 AM]

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