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MEDTECH Streamlining Oncology Communication: A New Approach to Patient-Physician Messaging
A recent study presented at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting has shed light on the significant workload that secure patient-physician portal messages place on oncologists, prompting a call for more efficient triaging systems.
Key Points:
- Oncologists respond to an average of 19 secure patient-physician portal messages per day, according to a one-year analysis.
- The study was conducted at 21 Kaiser Permanente Northern California Oncology practices, where 41,272 patients initiated 334,053 individual secure message conversations with 132 oncology providers.
- The analysis revealed that only 27% of the conversations required oncologist-level review, with the remaining 73% potentially manageable by a nurse or medical assistant.
- Approximately 24% of all secure message conversations would have traditionally required a billable visit.
- The unseen value of this medical care provided through secure messaging was estimated to be over $11 million, including roughly $3.8 million in avoided out-of-pocket co-payment costs to patients and $7.7 million in missed billing codes.
- Lead author Dr. Brandon Anderson proposed a triaging system to delegate messages based on the level of service needed.
- The approach to secure messaging will likely need to be tailored to individual oncology practices’ needs and healthcare system goals.
“Secure messages are now a part of healthcare delivery that directly benefits our patient access to their providers, but this comes at the expense of increased workload for oncologists.”
Brandon Anderson, MD, lead author of the study and an internal medicine resident at Kaiser Permanente’s San Francisco Medical Center in California
