Billing for Patient Messages to Clinicians Is Increasing
During the pandemic, healthcare systems swiftly transitioned to virtual care, facilitated by relaxed Medicare regulations promoting telehealth use. This change, however, led to a significant increase in electronic messages sent to providers, burdening clinicians with additional, often uncompensated, after-hours work to manage the influx. When healthcare organizations began billing patients for electronic messages, there was a lot of controversy. Some worried that patients might avoid contacting their doctors because they were unsure which inquiries would result in charges. Regardless of these concerns, billing for electronic communications became standard to compensate for the growing number of electronic communications, and health systems began billing for e-visits. According to a recent study, in 2020, there were an average of 103,127 e-visit claims per month. This number decreased to 77,164 in 2021 but then increased to 100,541 in 2022.
The billing for these e-visits varied, with nearly 45% of claims accounting for five to 10 minutes of provider time and around 15% for 21 minutes or more. Common diagnoses for shorter e-visits included acute sinusitis, urinary tract infection, and acute respiratory infections, while longer sessions were often related to hypertension. The study suggested that shorter, less costly messages replace acute care visits, while longer, more complex communications could represent additional care touchpoints, indicating diverse uses of telehealth in patient care.
Billing for Patient Messages to Clinicians Is Increasing, Study Finds (Olsen, HealthCareDive, 1/11).
