E-mail means fewer patient calls and visits

Despite concerns that online consults are not usually reimbursed, e-mail advocates say the technology offers greater practice flexibility, time efficiencies and marketing power.

By Pamela Lewis Dolan, AMNews staff. Aug. 27, 2007.

A Kaiser Permanente study showing that physicians who e-mailed with patients saw a drop in visits raises the specter that online communication might reduce revenue.

But doctors who were early adopters in e-mailing patients -- and who didn't participate in the study -- say that even though such communication might keep some patients out of the office, it opens up more space for patients who might have a more pressing need to come in. And they say patient e-mail reduces the amount of time they spend on the telephone with patients -- which Kaiser's study also found to be true.

Jasmine Moghissi, MD, a family physician in solo practice in Fairfax, Va., has been e-mailing patients for several years. She said that although it hasn't reduced the amount of work in the office, it's made the same amount of work easier to handle.

"It's like taking a phone call at your leisure. I almost never talk to patients on the phone. I find when I do, it's like an office visit, it's like 20 minutes," she said. "I will do the e-mail with them because I can control how much time I spend on it, and I can control when."

Researchers studied 4,686 patients from the Kaiser Permanente Northwest region who use the medical group's KP HealthConnect system, which gives secure e-mail access to doctors. Members had used HealthConnect for at least 13 months and had used at least one feature. The group was compared with a control group of 3,201 members, matched by age, sex and conditions, who did not use HealthConnect.