Precautions to Take When Emailing Patients

Needless to say, email is an easy and effective method of communication in your medical practice, but basic rules should be followed not only to enhance the quality of service for your patients, but also to decrease the liability exposure that can occur.

Guidelines developed by the eRisk Working Group for Healthcare urge physicians to offer email “visits” only to existing patients whose medical history they are familiar with, rather than to patients they have never treated. The guidelines carry no formal legal authority, but suggest some of the safest ways to practice online medicine. Consider the following measures to minimize the chance of problems arising from email interactions:

• Use a disclaimer. Communicate the ground rules up front about email exchanges. A standard disclaimer could read as follows: “Electronic mail is not secure, may not be read every day, and should not be used for urgent or sensitive issues.”
• Pick up the phone. If you exchange emails with another party two or three times, or here is an emotional issue involved, get off of email and place a phone call. Always follow the rule of thumb that you should never say in an email what you wouldn’t say in person.
• Never use abbreviations with patients. Limit your use of abbreviations in emails to close friends or associates. To the average patient, abbreviations most often lead to confusion.
• Check spelling. Evaluate your grammar before clicking “send.” Misspelled words and poor grammar, even in an email, reflect poorly on you as a professional.