Re: Would patients like to be able to email their doctors?

From: Carey Gregory (tiredofspam123_at_comcast.net)
Date: 12/11/04 

Date: Sat, 11 Dec 2004 01:32:20 -0500

"Josh" <jumbehr@gmail.com> wrote:

>Carey, you make a good point, why pay for the simple stuff when its
>free on a phone. Well, possibly convience b/c most dr's office are so
>inefficient its hard to get to a real person/nurse/dr. And then there
>are the security concerns. Your suggestion about a secure
>system/network is actually how it would be set up. If i can emai the
>irs, my bank, or my credit cards and get personal info sent back to me,
>then I think we can work out the security kinks.

You cannot email the IRS, your bank, or credit card companies regarding
confidential information. Email is not a secure medium, and even if you
don't realize that, they do.

>Howard, the benefit in emails isn't really in the simple stuff like
>billing and scheduling. In fact, there are a large number of medical
>problems that can be sovled via emails. We had a doctor from portland
>oregon come and speak to our school about how he set his email system
>in conjunction w/ his malpractice carrier. They loved it so much they
>lowered his premiums b/c they felt it was better, safer care w/ great
>record keeping. He was vague on the price, but suggested he charged
>near $100/yr for an individual and $200/yr for a family and was making
>in the ballpark of 200k /yr from this alone.

I'm very skeptical.

>His malpractice carrier
>especially like how well it service pts w/ anxiety b/c they were able
>to communicate w/ their drs w/o the stress of coming to the office.
>Also, adults taking care of the elderly parents were able to have an
>open line of communication w/ their FP. Another physician in minnesota
>charges 1500/yr/person with it capped @ 300 pts = 450k. He then is
>able to only work the mornings and responds to emails during the
>afternoon.

I'm moving beyond skepticism now and proclaiming this utter bull***.
Either you have your facts wrong or someone told you a huge fairy tale.

>Josh
>http://freemarketdoctors.blogspot.com

I appreciate your creative thinking on this subject, but I'd say you need to
listen to Howard and get a little practical experience before proposing
ultimate solutions.