Public and private payers may soon be testing reimbursement strategies for secure electronic messaging between clinicians and patients, if the American Health Information Community has anything to say about it.
The group, which advises Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt on health information technology (IT) interoperability issues, voted to urge payers to pilot-test secure messaging to evaluate possible forms of reimbursement, physician work-flow issues, and the impact on patient involvement in their care.
The widespread use of secure systems that allow patients and physicians to communicate by e-mail has the potential to improve quality and lower costs, Dr. Douglas E. Henley, executive vice president for the American Academy of Family Physicians, said at a teleconference of the American Health Information Community (AHIC).
AHIC also voted to recommend that the Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel work on defining standards for secure messaging that will be interoperable with electronic health records.
And in an effort to ensure that access to secure messaging is available to all patients and clinicians, AHIC is asking officials at the Health and Human Services Department to look at how to address the gaps in access to computers and the Internet for poor and underserved populations and the safety net providers that provide their care. AHIC also recommended that the federal government work with state agencies and professional societies to develop new licensing alternatives that address the ability to provide electronic care delivery across state lines through secure messaging systems.