Doctors Allergic to Email?

[sleepguide]

Is anyone else angry that it's 2009 and our doctors won't email us our cpap prescriptions, sleep studies, etc?

http://www.sleepguide.com/forum/topics/ ... ns-medical

[BeanMeScot]

Some are embrassing it but it is slow. I have a coworker who can see all of his test results on the internet and email his doctor and get an almost instant response. I can't do any of that. When I see my doctor, there is a computer terminal in the room but I have never seen anyone touch it. My doctor is fairly young (40's) so I think it is the practice that hasn't gotten with the times.

[ScottyT]

Sending email means creating a paper trail. In case of lawsuits, very few doctors want paper trails.

[Paul56]

Prescription written on paper creates a paper-trail too.

[Catnapper]

So how are they going to charge you for an email? Like an office visit? By the number of words? By the number of questions?

There has to be a charge.

[Wulfman]

Is anyone else angry that it's 2009 and our doctors won't email us our cpap prescriptions, sleep studies, etc?

http://www.sleepguide.com/forum/topics/ ... ns-medical

Nope!
I got my prescription in person when the doctor wrote it out. I didn't actually get a copy of my sleep study until about a year and a half later (December of 2006) when I finally got curious about it. They finally sent it to me after some confusion on THEIR part. (posted about it here)

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=16177

My doctors' office won't even give out their e-mail addresses to their patients/customers.....at least they wouldn't several years ago. I'm not sure if they'd even reply to them if you sent them one anyway. From their standpoint.....how would they be able to charge you for an office call if the information was in an e-mail?????? It's about MONEY!!!


Den

EDIT: I see Catnapper was thinking along the same lines.

[TheDreamer]

My doctor office has changed how they issue prescriptions now....no more the doctor scribbling on a little piece of paper..... they have their assistant generate a prescription by computer and then fax it over to where I want to get it filled.

I've been talking that I'm going to see about hitting doctor up to write me a prescription for a second machine. Where I'll seek to fill it via an online source...likely cpap.com, where it'll be all out of pocket.....because it'll be way too soon for insurance to pay for it. Want a travel/emergency machine....though I don't know which one I'll get. Was looking at Everest 2, though its not a fully data capable machine..... but the automatic battery backup feature is what has my attention.

I once traveled on business to this town....twice. Stayed in different hotels, in different parts of town....but both times there was a power outage of several hours over night. Always the first night, too. Bad enough that back then I had trouble sleeping through alarms....even worse when the alarm doesn't go off because its flashing "12:00". First time the outage was localized to where the hotel was....not sure about the second time.

So many things to worry about now....and I've always been a worrier..... back to obsessing over my upcoming trip. Now wondering if I want to risk have a checked bag and bringing my pillow with me....years ago, I lost a bag....or rather the Denver International Airport ate it. That was the last time I packed a pillow when traveling. The pillow have now is almost perfect, so I don't want to lose it. I can back sleep in the middle...I can side sleep to the right...I can stomach sleep to the left. And, stay masked. The only problem is having to reach up and turn the swivel on my mask when I roll to the side.....

The Dreamer.

Hmmm, I see there's an Everest 3 now...wonder what's new?

[BlackSpinner]

In the 90's I worked with a software house to automate medical billing for Nova scotia doctors. The medicare system was tired of the illegible billings and they managed to even screw up punch cards and MSI wanted to encourage the medics to automate. Well other then one clinic they never sold a thing and eventually went bankrupt. Ten years later the medics were forced to upgrade or not get paid and they finally went to service bureaus to do it.
It is really hard to believe how slow they are to take up new technology.

[JimW203]

So how are they going to charge you for an email? Like an office visit? By the number of words? By the number of questions?

There has to be a charge.

Lawyers don't seem to have the same problem - perhaps they should get together and create a new specialty.

JimW203

[sleepguide]

Sending email means creating a paper trail. In case of lawsuits, very few doctors want paper trails.

... which brings me to my next point.. i am a lawyer and it's my position that when you really look at the probability of a patient prevailing on the merits of a lawsuit, that the doctors' fear of lawsuits is very irrational. yet, you and i the patient are treated when we walk through the door automatically as if we're the 1 in 1000 patient who will bring a lawsuit which has some merit. it's ridiculous. i wrote about it on sleepguide.com and doctors insisted they weren't being irrational (surprise): http://www.sleepguide.com/forum/topics/ ... al-fear-of

[Velbor]

One of my physicians expressed a concern about RECEIVING emails.

She was concerned that she could be inundated with patient emails, that acceptance of any would imply that she could have / should have looked at all of them, that if a potentially urgent situation were described and she did not / could not read it (and act upon it) in a timely manner it would not serve the best interests of the patient. By phone or fax, office staff can screen and prioritize communications; she did not want support staff screening her email.

For that reason she would not give me her email address, and for the same reason would not send me anything by email (since that would provide her account address). Legal concerns were not mentioned, but I would guess that they were not far in the background.

I have other physicians with no such reluctance.

[DreamStalker]

My PCP doc emails me lab test results and diagnostic reports from specialists ... not a big deal really. He is simply trying to reduce postal expenses.

[OldLincoln]

My son goes to Kaiser and he can read his lab results make appointments, email docs and get replies very quickly. I love his on-line lab results section as he can chart specific tests over time and print it out.

I must note that his is Kaiser of Northern CA and as good as they are, Kaiser of Southern CA is equally bad. At least that's what other relatives tell me.

My doc doesn't do email and told me he has over 3000 patients and doesn't have time to deal with all the symptomatic emails he would get asking for free diagnosis instead of making an appointment. I see where that would be an immediate problem, but I do wish they had something just for Rx's.

[Juliebove]

I've never been to a Dr. who used e-mail with their patients, although I've heard some do. My GP and my dermatologist both use fax to send prescriptions straight to the pharmacy. My other Drs. still do it the old fashioned way.

My Endo. has me write to him and send it snail mail. He said this is better than e-mail because he has to sort through too much spam to get to the real mail.

[Bearded_One]

My doctor has provided me with his email address, but he does not normally use email due to privacy concerns. Email does not meet HIPPA privacy requirements.