Physicians in a recent study say they need more time or compensation to email or communicate with patients through patient portals or they feel like “their day can never end.”
As Part B News readers know, CMS will require more than 5% of patients seen by physicians to view, download or transmit their health information to a third party as part of stage 2 meaningful use. By meeting that and other measures, practices can earn thousands of dollars in meaningful use incentives.
Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College interviewed leaders of 21 medical groups and physicians and health care staff at six groups that use electronic communications “extensively,” according to a press release from the college. The practices use electronic communications to share test results, allow requests for medication refills and appointments, and ask questions of their doctors. Physicians received five to 50 emails daily.
“Two medical groups added ‘desktop medicine time’ to their physicians’ schedules while another allowed providers to decide how many patients they would see each day, thus providing time for electronic communication,” the press release states.
While patients and even providers loved the ability to provide efficient communication, physicians didn’t like that it created more work.
“Until different payment models emerge, electronic communication is unlikely to be widely adopted by physician practices,” concludes the study’s lead author, Dr. Tara F. Bishop, an assistant professor in the Department of Public Health and Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College.