What If Your Doctor Could Text?
Why the Conventional System Doesn’t Communicate
Many practices these days are starting to implement "patient portals." By logging in, you can ask a question, and it goes to the doctor for review.
Or does it?
Remember the last time you messaged your doctor? You had a concern, you sent the message, and then...crickets. Or maybe a nurse chimes in and asks you to schedule an appointment to discuss further.
Why the delay? Why the appointment?
That message you sent “to your doctor” was probably routed to a member of the clinic staff, and then had to be forwarded up the chain a few days later, where it may or may not have even reached your doctor. The entire office filtering system is designed to deflect any additional tasks that aren't an office visit.
Let's pretend that your doctor actually got that message. Now they have to fit in time to respond. Despite Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) adding messaging features, the office schedule has yet to permit dedicated time to anything other than the 15-minute appointment. Thus, without additional time, the doctor isn't really any more accessible. If something goes wrong and the day runs late, the visits get done, but your text goes to the bottom of the pile.
The current system pays doctors for visits, rather than for effective care. So rather than building significant buffers into the schedule for texting patients, clinics are instead incentivized to overfill the schedule. Their business model depends on it.
Sounds a little backwards, right?
If caring for people is really the most important thing, then shouldn't effectively eliminating all barriers to that care be the priority?
When you’re sick, you shouldn't have to wait a week for a response. The focus should be on keeping you healthy, not getting you in the door. In our practice, text messages go directly to your doctor’s cell phone, no middleman. Less time rushing between visits means more time for your doctor to see and get to your message. Texting allows patients to tell their story, answer follow up questions, and avoid unnecessary and inconvenient appointments.
When doctors and patients aren't bound by the typical appointment, problems get solved quicker.