Don ’ t Be Surprised If Your Doctor Starts Charging You for Email

Doctors are starting to charge for responding to email, and other offline tasks. Is it justified or just extra costs in an endless stream of medical bills? It’s 6 pm and you might expect your doctor’s workday to be complete after a busy patient load. Yet for majority, work has just begun. It’s time to open their patient portal, review test results, answer piles of patient email. Then they do whatever needs to be done, like ordering more tests or consults. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Patient portals have improved access to test results and physicians. Day or night, you can review your results and pose questions such as, “What does this lab value mean?”, “Can you refill my prescription?”, “My x-ray shows a pulmonary nodule. What is that?”, or “Can I have a referral to see a specialist?” Patient portals have become an innovative and cost-free way for patients and doctors to communicate. Instead of dropping a co-pay for a traditional appointment or signing up a telehealth visit, a portal post often does the trick. Here’s the problem: doctors are traditionally only paid for real-time encounters. There’s been no extra pay for responding to email or following up on many offline requests. Many doctors spend tons of time—often after hours—on unreimbursed activity. Extra uncompensated tasks increasingly weigh down physicians spiritually and emotionally. Drowning in he...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized freelance Source Type: news