Electronic consultations, or eConsults, which allow a primary care physician to connect quickly and securely with a specialist when a question arises that the primary care physician can’t answer, can cut down on unnecessary appointments for patients and free up doctors’ time, according to experts.
A March 18, 2019 New York Times article written by Austin Frakt, adjunct associate professor at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, looked at various studies on the benefits of eConsults, as well as potential downsides, including the possibility of raising health care spending and adding more administrative tasks to primary care doctors’ workloads.
“EConsults resolve a lot of problems that can be addressed with simple communication,” said Michael Barnett, assistant professor of health policy and management at Harvard Chan School. However, Barnett added that one concern is that specialist reviewers might become less engaged and in the long run route more patients to specialist visits. “If that happens, the resource-saving benefits of eConsults would fall,” he said.
Read the New York Times article: When Email Comes to the Doctor’s Office, Wait Times Decrease
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Electronic system lowers wait times for access to specialists (Harvard Chan news)