Meg Bakewell News Today

US health systems start charging fees for their doctors' time and expertise in answering online patient queries.

Billing for e-visits raises knotty questions about the balance between fairly compensating providers for their time and enhancing patients’ access to care.

Billing for e-visits raises knotty questions about the balance between fairly compensating providers for their time and enhancing patients’ access to care.

Doctors say billing for email consultations reduces message volume and gives them more free time. The increasingly prevalent practice has also raised fears about negative impacts to patient care.

Meg Bakewell, who has cancer and cancer-related heart disease, sometimes emails her primary care physician, oncologist, and cardiologist asking them for medical advice when she experiences urgent symptoms such as pain or shortness of breath.

Spurred by the sharp rise in email messaging during the covid pandemic, a growing number of health systems around the country have started charging patients when physicians and other clinicians send replies to their messages.

Billing for e-visits raises knotty questions about the balance between fairly compensating providers for their time and enhancing patients’ access to care.