This is an issue that many doctors have been complaining about for the past 2-3 years. The complaint is that they need to be paid extra for sending emails to patients. What is the reason behind this?

Well, many healthcare organizations have started implementing Electronic Medical Records (EMR). Some of these offer the functionality by which patients can email their doctors and vice-versa. Doctors feel that they should be doing what they do best and what is good for their patients, which is taking care of patients and not sending emails.
Now let’s think about this for a moment.

Consider a mechanical design engineer. His/Her responsibility is to design good products and not send emails to their customers. Who are their customers? They could be internal or external to their organization. They don’t necessarily get paid extra for that. There is nothing mentioned in their employment contract that explicitly states that ‘email’ is part of the job. Email is a tool that helps them achieve their goal.

Consider an executive assistant. Few years back their responsibility was to manage phone calls for the executives. These days, it is both phone and email management.

Why do doctors think the medical profession is different than other professions?

Times are changing. I’ve heard many times that the healthcare industry is the last industry to adopt any new technology. Now do we see why this is? It is not the industry to be blamed but some of the doctors. Health Plans have adopted newer technologies to be competitive in the market. Why? Because members demand online access to their records and need other features that make their life easier. Many hospitals have also adopted newer technology. Why? Because they can provide better care to their patients and be more competitive in the market.

If doctors don’t adopt the simplest form of communication, which is email, then they are going to lose the newer generation of patients.