Doctors now charging for emails

[Jazzy]

If you ask your doctor a question via e-mail, don't be shocked if you receive a bill. E-health visits grew during the COVID-19 pandemic for obvious reasons, and it stuck. But now, an increasing number of healthcare organizations, including hospitals, are billing for the correspondence.

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Do you think it's fair to bill a patient for an email? (Why/Why Not)

 

[Lamb]

I think more and more people are skipping the office visits and going the short route of just emailing their doctor. If a doctor spends 15 minutes to a half hour looking through the patient's records and then researching to see what needs to be done, as well as responding, then for sure he/she should be charging.

 

[tango]

I'm not sure why people are surprised when someone who charges for their services, you know, actually charges for providing a service.

People have this grand idea that email is free, and don't consider the time it takes to answer a question. I'm assuming my doctor doesn't keep my entire medical file in her head all the time so she'd need to look up the file, consider the question, and take the time to write an answer. She's also presumably carrying some kind of liability for her answer, given it's hard to see how she could possibly claim that advice from my doctor doesn't count as medical advice. On that basis it's not like she can just tap out a quick answer the same way I could if a friend asked me something.

 

[Forgiven1]

I have no problems with their charging. As has been said, they need to go to your chart to check your history and then respond. This all takes time for them to do. Also, there is a risk to receiving medical care this way, the doctor can not see you and properly assess you. Because of this, you may receive bad advice.

If a person wants medical care by email, they need to pay of it.