Doctors hesitant to e-mail patients

Most Americans want the convenience of e-mail for non-urgent medical issues, but fewer than a third of U.S. doctors use e-mail to communicate with patients, according to recent physician surveys.

Some doctors worry that responding to e-mails will increase their workload, and most physicians don’t get reimbursed for it by insurance companies. Others fear hackers could compromise patient privacy – even though doctors who use e-mail with patients generally do so through password-protected websites.

There are also concerns that patients will send urgent messages that don’t get answered promptly, and as a result, physicians are concerned about liability.

Many patients would like to use e-mail for routine matters, such as asking for a prescription refill, getting lab results or scheduling a visit. Doing so, they say, would help avoid phone tag or taking time off work to come in for a minor problem.

However, a survey conducted early last year by Manhattan Research found that only 31 percent of doctors e-mailed their patients in the first quarter of 2007.

Two major health insurers, Cigna Corp. and Aetna Inc., this year expanded pilot programs that compensate doctors who use a secure Internet site to make virtual house calls with patients. That includes the ability to send encrypted e-mail, a move some hope will increase the number of doctors who go digital.

The American Medical Association says e-mail should not replace face-to-face interactions with patients. AMA guidelines recommend talking to patients about the technology’s limitations.