Is it just me, or have a lot of you been saying, "Duh!" in reaction to healthcare news?

In case you missed it in the pre-Thanksgiving madness, I gave a big "Duh!" in FierceMobileHealthcare last week to telephone-based telemedicine not working as well as expected. I had a similar reaction back in June to the continued reliance on fax technology for sharing patient records. And now, I offer another "Duh!" to an item in FiercePracticeManagement last week about how physician practices may open themselves up to greater malpractice liability if their answering services are sloppy, negligent or merely impolite.

"So, for example, if a patient calls with a headache and says it is not an emergency, but later is diagnosed with cerebral aneurysm, you are responsible for the answering service's decision not to call you, and may find yourself defending its actions [and your career] in court," reports FiercePracticeManagement. "What's more...if the service has shown a previous pattern of not calling right away, not dating and timing the calls, calling the wrong doctor, transposing numbers or garbling messages, a plaintiff's attorney could allege that you were negligent in not correcting the problem."

Or you could lose the 20th Century mentality that every physician office needs an answering service. Try a patient portal, with secure messaging for non-emergencies and built-in triage functions to help patients with serious but non-life-threatening ailments like bronchitis or a sports injury find a walk-in clinic or urgent care center after hours. (Just make it clear on the site that those with true emergencies should call 911 immediately, or you very well could find yourself with liability problems later.) Offer online appointment scheduling for those who can wait for the next business day--making sure, of course, that you are able to take last-minute patients.

Sure, you say, many patients still prefer the phone or simply aren't near a computer when there's a problem. Have a nurse on call instead of a low-paid receptionist who may not understand HIPAA (or simply may not care). Give the person answering the phone the same triage tools as a portal would offer.

A little investment in some technology could go a long way. - Neil