I am curious (and a little bit dismayed) at the characterization of a clinician's caution as "Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt." I am ALL in favor of secure communications, but I am mindful of the reason for that concern; email is incredibly INSECURE, and the average healthcare consumer (to say nothing of the practitioner) is not aware of how many ways it can go wrong. I would have my doctor err on the side of caution, and given the potential penalties for HIPAA violations, I'm sure the doctor is even more convinced.
By way of analogy, I may not care if the person treating the mole on my neck has all the years of training of an MD, but that's because I don't have any idea of the risks. The doctor has the training to have an idea of what can happen if it is treated as non-cancerous, how I may react to the course of treatment, survivability, likely recovery time, etc. In the same way, the doctor may not know all the ways an email can escape out into the wild and all the ways that information can harm me, my employment, my relationships, or my finances. But he DOES know how much it can cost him if he causes it!
Calling this FUD is itself very FUD'ish. Until you know how build your own nuclear power plant, don't play with the uranium.
I just got one of those annoying notes from a medical professional.
I asked to correspond via e-mail. She replied that “it would be unethical,” then referred me to the phone.
If you want to know what one of the biggest money sinks is in medicine, on the consumer side, it’s this. Doctors think privacy laws force them to engage in only synchronous, voice communications, so as not to let anyone’s secrets slip.
Kryptiq has been fighting this FUD for years. During the HIMSS show I got a chance to sit down with its CEO, Luis Machuca (right).
Kryptiq gets around HIPAA by building systems that let professionals send messages securely, through the cloud, and also lets them exchange files in full compliance with the HIPAA law.
MuchacaMachuca said doctors are wonderful and business is great.
“Providers have realized they’re not in the information hoarding business, but in the service business,” he said. “Consumers have expectations, and that’s changing behavior.”
Tom Landholt, a Kryptiq customer from Springfield, Mo., agreed. “We don’t play phone tag,” he said. Kryptiq lets him work seamlessly with both of the large hospital networks in his town, and send secure messages to patients.
Muchaca Machuca is not just selling, Landholt said. Doctors are buying. Where you would once set up a meeting to talk to 40 physicians about electronic records and maybe 6 showed up, now you set up for 40 and 60 show up.
“Forget the $44,000″ in sweet, sweet stimulus cash, he suggested. “Write a business plan. You tell me why you want a portal, or electronic records.
“Talk about the right issues. We can create medical communities again. I want data. Let me see it.”
Not everyone has gotten the message yet, but more are getting it each day, MuchacaMachuca said. Be patient.
What choice do I have?
