Comments on: Why physicians don’t use email http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2006/09/why-physicians-dont-use-email.html medical blog Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:50:13 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Gasman http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2006/09/why-physicians-dont-use-email.html/comment-page-1#comment-67388 Gasman Tue, 26 Sep 2006 02:21:00 +0000 http://clients.emmense.com/kevinmd/2006/09/why-physicians-dont-use-email.html#comment-67388 Sure, I'll respond to all my patient's e-mails; just as soon as lawyers waive their hourly fee for this service and do the same. <br/><br/>As Karl Marx observed in the Communist Manifesto, physcians, lawyers, artisans and other professionals are NOT among the Bourgios class. They are working class individuals who earn only as much as they personally produce; their business can only bill (legally) for work produced or personally directed by them. Quite simply, time is money. A physician acting as a physician, or a lawyer acting as a lawyer cannot co-opt the fruit fellow physicians or lawyers. Only if they change hats and become a business cheiftan can they control the means of production and get a cut of the professionals labor. Sure, I’ll respond to all my patient’s e-mails; just as soon as lawyers waive their hourly fee for this service and do the same.

As Karl Marx observed in the Communist Manifesto, physcians, lawyers, artisans and other professionals are NOT among the Bourgios class. They are working class individuals who earn only as much as they personally produce; their business can only bill (legally) for work produced or personally directed by them. Quite simply, time is money. A physician acting as a physician, or a lawyer acting as a lawyer cannot co-opt the fruit fellow physicians or lawyers. Only if they change hats and become a business cheiftan can they control the means of production and get a cut of the professionals labor.

]]> By: NocturnalDoc http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2006/09/why-physicians-dont-use-email.html/comment-page-1#comment-67380 NocturnalDoc Mon, 25 Sep 2006 23:11:00 +0000 http://clients.emmense.com/kevinmd/2006/09/why-physicians-dont-use-email.html#comment-67380 I used to be employed (read: salaried) by a large group practice that was run by docs that hadn't seen patients since the stone age. They loved this crap! Patients like it and want it and it breeds loyalty, blah blah blah. The only catch for us overworked docs? Some insurances reimbursed for the Relay Health consults, but the company got the money! The doc who was expected to respond to 20-30 emails a day was getting paid NADA for the 2-3 hours of personal time they were expected to use to respond to the emails! So now we were working 60-70 hours per week in the office and only getting paid for 40 and they were expecting us to work for free during our personal time.<br/><br/>Unless the doc gets some compensation for emails, in the setting of group practices, this will not catch on. People need to realize docs are people too and we have personal lives. I used to be employed (read: salaried) by a large group practice that was run by docs that hadn’t seen patients since the stone age. They loved this crap! Patients like it and want it and it breeds loyalty, blah blah blah. The only catch for us overworked docs? Some insurances reimbursed for the Relay Health consults, but the company got the money! The doc who was expected to respond to 20-30 emails a day was getting paid NADA for the 2-3 hours of personal time they were expected to use to respond to the emails! So now we were working 60-70 hours per week in the office and only getting paid for 40 and they were expecting us to work for free during our personal time.

Unless the doc gets some compensation for emails, in the setting of group practices, this will not catch on. People need to realize docs are people too and we have personal lives.

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