Payment for primary care is undergoing a tremendous shift. Larger organizations are requiring physicians to reach out at least once a year to their patients. The ability of doctors to communicate with their patients is also being measured via patient surveys.
In my opinion, the most efficient way for physicians to communicate with their patients is via HIPAA compliant email. And since most doctors still don't use email in the office, we are going to see a massive shift in attitude towards the use of HIPAA email. Think about it. Every American in 2017 has 2 things: An email address and a mobile phone. SMS text messages are effective for innocuous appointment reminders but they are not a HIPAA compliant messaging platform. In order for HIPAA compliant text messaging to occur, you would have to require both the doctor and the patient to download and install a secure, third party app. For both physicians and patients alike, this may or may not occur on a consistent basis. If you take the case of email, we can safely assume in 2017 every patient has at least one email address. In addition, we can also assume they are regularly checking email. In a nutshell, no additional setup (i.e. friction) is required for the patient. This is the big idea behind our approach to HIPAA Compliant Email:
Reduce friction while maintaining compliance. In the webinar, I was asked to cover:
Mahalo to Leolinda Parlin and the folks at Ka Huliau!