A new study suggests e-mail exchanges between doctor and patient helps the patient stay in better control of their treatments and leads to health improvements. Makes sense to me.
E-mailing your doctor with specific health-related questions about your treatment is a major time-saver compared to making actual appointments or trying to get phone calls returned. And when communication improves between doctor and patient, it becomes much easier for patients to understand what is going on with treatments and how to handle questions and confusion as they come up along the way. But don't take my word for it.
A USA Today article on a new study by Kaiser Permanente reveals an analysis of 630,000 e-mails transmitted between doctors and patients with diabetes or hypertension problems showed the electronic missives led to better health care and results. Those who e-mailed their physicians were better able to control blood sugar and cholesterol intake and handle screening tests.
Most of the e-mails were initiated by the patients and the study showed the more frequent the e-mails the greater the health improvements. Also worth noting: About three-quarters of those 630,000 e-mails stuck to specific health-related questions as opposed to exchanging meatloaf recipes.
It's good knowing federal law requires physicians to have a secure e-mail system in place by 2013 as a part of their medical records-keeping process.
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