Study Sees Improved Outcomes for Patients Who E-Mail Doctors

iHealthBeat

Individuals who e-mailed their physicians experienced better outcomes on management of two chronic diseases than people who did not e-mail, according to a new study of Kaiser Permanente patients, the Sacramento Bee reports (Peyton Dahlberg, Sacramento Bee, 7/7).

The study, published in the July edition of Health Affairs, examined 35,423 Kaiser patients in Southern California who have diabetes, high blood pressure or both. Researchers reviewed about 556,000 e-mail threads containing more than 630,000 e-mail messages (Kaiser Permanente release, 7/7).

The study was conducted between 2005 and 2008 (Sacramento Bee, 7/7).

Study Results

The study found that patients initiated 85% of the e-mail exchanges (Kaiser Permanente release, 7/7).

Eighty-eight percent of patients with diabetes who e-mailed their physicians had control of their blood sugar levels at the end of 2008, compared with 83% of diabetics who did not e-mail.

The study also found that 73% of patients who e-mailed received screenings for retinopathy — an eye problem associated with diabetes — compared with 70% of patients who did not e-mail (Sacramento Bee, 7/7).

Among patients who e-mailed their physicians, the study authors also recorded improvements in cholesterol control and screening, blood pressure levels and screening for kidney disease. The more frequently e-mails were exchanged, the greater the health improvements, researchers noted (Gardner, HealthDay, 7/7).

Takeaways

E-mailing may help strengthen the relationship between patients and physicians, the authors suggested. They also noted that patients who are likely to e-mail their physicians might be more inclined to better manage their own care (Sacramento Bee, 7/7).

2009 Study of Concierge Medicine Practice Models Encourages Growth Into Primary Care Again

ATLANTA, GEORGIA | February 1st, 2010 | The Concierge Medicine Research Collective, an independent health care research center based in Atlanta, GA has released a 12-month summary of its survey results of the concierge medicine marketplace. The study concluded that at the end of 2009:

• Over 66% of current U.S. concierge physicians operating practices today are internal medicine specialists.
• The second most popular medical specialty in concierge medicine is family practice.

A surprising finding in this study was the increasing number of concierge ‘dental’ and ‘pediatric’ practices arising since February of 2009.

“We studied concierge physician growth, the various models used, popular trends, and collected a wide variety of data on different specialties from October of 2007 to December of 2009,” said Michael Tetreault, Executive Director of the Concierge Medicine Research Collective.

A similar poll related to the economy and the recession was conducted online between October 2009 to January 2010 by The Collective’s parent organization, Concierge Medicine Today. Concierge physicians were asked ‘how is your practice performing financially compared to one-year ago?’ Surprisingly, concierge physicians across the U.S. polling data shows:

• Nearly sixty percent (59.0%) of all current concierge physicians are doing ‘Better’ financially than one-year ago.
• Twenty-nine percent (29.0%) indicated ‘No Change’ and;
• Twelve percent (12.0%) indicated ‘Worse.’

About The Concierge Medicine Research Collective:  The Concierge Medicine Research Collective is an independent health care research center based in Atlanta, GA. The Collective serves as an educational resource on all things concierge medicine and is geared towards those businesses, lobbyists, physician associations, health care advocacy groups and general consumers of healthcare who want to learn more about information available on the topic of concierge medicine. It is independently owned, administrated and managed by The Dominion Consulting Group, Inc. For more information, visit: www.AskTheCollective.org.