Press Releases
Sacred Heart Medical Group Offers Convenient Online Communication Between Doctors and Patients
Pensacola, FL, December 27, 2005 — Sacred Heart Medical Group, Northwest Florida's largest network of primary care physicians, has installed a new online communication system that enables doctors and their patients to exchange messages and expedite medical services via email.
Using a new service developed by RelayHealth Corp., Sacred Heart patients can resolve non-urgent health matters with their doctor through a webVisit® consultation, request prescription refills and renewals, schedule appointments, receive lab results, and request referrals — all online. The doctors, meanwhile, can respond to patients' emails, reduce phone traffic and time spent on "telephone tag", and in some cases, even get paid for an online patient visit.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida (BCBSF) is sponsoring Sacred Heart's introduction of the RelayHealth system that facilitates online doctor-patient communications. "We believe that Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida has a unique role in advancing the health and well being of Florida's citizens," said William Kerr, M.D., chief medical officer, BCBSF. "Through RelayHealth, we now offer physicians in the Sacred Heart Medical Group and their patients a safe and confidential way to communicate about non-urgent health care needs."
Patients benefit from improved healthcare access and greater convenience, as these electronic services enable them to send a message to their doctors at virtually any time through a secure web site. Physicians benefit from increased productivity, expedited processing of prescription refills and reporting lab results, and improved patient satisfaction.
"These easy-to-use online services will enhance the quality care we already provide," says Dr. Fred Mixon, Chief Medical Officer of Sacred Heart Medical Group. "We recognize that patients are looking for ways to communicate quickly and easily with their doctor, and the RelayHealth service is a secure, personal way to do just that. We're happy to provide this added service for our patients."
More than 50 physicians within Sacred Heart Medical Group are offering the new email communication system to their patients. To date, more than 500 patients have accepted their doctor's invitation to participate. Email allows patients to send their requests or medical questions from home or the office, without missing work or spending time waiting at a doctor's office.
"This online service does not replace the need for face-to-face visits," Dr. Mixon says. "But in many cases, an office visit is not truly needed, and it is not convenient for the patient to take time out of his or her day to get to the doctor's office. For many situations, email is a more convenient, efficient way for patient to interact with their doctor compared to setting up a face-to-fact visit or trying to reach their doctor by telephone. We expect this is the beginning of a trend toward more online doctor-patient communication that will be welcomed by most patients."
RelayHealth Corporation is the nation's leading provider of health plan-reimbursed, online healthcare communication services.
In an independent study, both physicians and patients preferred the RelayHealth service to phone calls for non-urgent problems, while three-quarters of patients reported that RelayHealth improved access to their healthcare providers (Liederman E, Morefield C. Web Messaging: A New Tool for Patient-Physician Communication. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2003;10:260-270).
RelayHealth services are provided at no cost to patients, with the exception of the webVisit feature, which carries a nominal out of pocket fee, or co-payment for those with coverage through their insurance plan. The webVisit is an online medical interview that gathers key data about a patient's symptoms and relays it quickly and concisely to their doctor. Through a special program, patients with health coverage through Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida (BCBSFL) can conduct a webVisit consultation for the equivalent cost of a face-to-face office visit — while enjoying the convenience of accessing care online from their own doctor.
About RelayHealth Corporation
RelayHealth is the premier provider of payor-reimbursed secure online healthcare communication
services linking patients, healthcare professionals, health plans, and pharmacies. A secure,
clinically structured productivity platform for the medical office, the RelayHealth service
is an emerging online communication standard, interfacing with both commercial and custom-built
electronic medical record systems through the company's Interoperability Toolkit. Research
studies show RelayHealth reduces phone traffic and increases physician productivity through
modular features like the webVisit® clinical consultation and
eScript electronic prescribing — one reason
leading health plans nationwide increasingly reimburse providers who use the RelayHealth
service. For healthcare consumers, RelayHealth improves convenience, access and communication
with their own doctors. For information, visit www.relayhealth.com/florida.
About Sacred Heart Medical Group
Sacred Heart Medical Group is northwest Florida's largest network of primary care physicians
with locations in Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Bay, and Baldwin counties. Sacred Heart
Medical Group is affiliated with Sacred Heart Health System, which established northwest
Florida's first hospital in 1915 and has become the region's leading provider of high-quality,
compassionate health care to adults and children. For more information about Sacred Heart
Medical Group, please call 850-416-7000 or visit www.sacred-heart.org.
About Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida is a leader in Florida's health industry. BCBSF and its
subsidiaries serve more than 7.2 million people. Since 1944, the company has been dedicated
to meeting the diverse needs of all those it serves by offering an array of choices. BCBSF
is a not-for-profit, policyholder-owned, tax-paying mutual company. Headquartered in Jacksonville,
Fla., BCBSF is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, an
association of independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies. For more information concerning
BCBSF, please see its Web site at www.bcbsfl.com.
