Theo also touches on an interesting point...
I am continue to prevaricate on how to integrate electronic communication into my practice. On the one extreme is the government hype that much of what we do can be done without an office visit; I can, for example, train my patients to take their own blood pressure, and could easily adjust medication by remote control. But, of course, there is no reimbursement for that. Still, if I think of myself as the patient I would certainly appreciate not having to take time from work to sit in a waiting room for a 15 minute meet and greet that I could have done in the evening from my laptop.
I guess if we are all eventually on salary this will settle out. But, I have to say I do feel a little guilty having a patient miss a good portion of a day's work for something that really could be handled by e-mail.
