What Physicians Say About RelayHealth
Read what physicians are saying about RelayHealth:
Dr. Siskind Reports One RelayHealth Message Eliminates 2.6 Phone Calls
Dr. Jue's 1,157 Registered Patients Can't Be Wrong - RelayHealth Works
With RelayHealth, Convenience Is A Dual Proposition For Dr. Baquero And His Patients
Dr. Good Resolves Patient Messages In Minutes, Which Never Happens On The Phone
No Flood of "e-calls" Here; Dr. Zebrowksi Gets Less Than 6 RelayHealth Messages Per Day
Dr. Ford: 600+ Patients Online And Growing
RelayHealth Helps Dr. Kleinman Generate Practice Revenue
Dr. Roseff Uses RelayHealth To Notify Patients Of A Medication Recall
Monitoring Questions Is Easier With RelayHealth vs. E-mail, Says Dr. Edwards
Through RelayHealth, Dr. Schafer Offloads Message Load To Support Staff
Dr. Siskind Reports One RelayHealth Message Eliminates 2.6 Phone Calls
The ability to save time has made Dr. Siskind an enthusiastic RelayHealth proponent. "We've calculated that the average phone message in our practice requires 2.6 phone calls to resolve," says Dr. Siskind. But "with RelayHealth, it's generally one e-mail back and forth."
Not only does RelayHealth help free up phone lines, Dr. Siskind finds it allows him to write prescriptions and renewals more quickly and efficiently. RelayHealth has also proven a fast and effective way to distribute lab results.
Security is another big driver of RelayHealth use throughout the medical group where Dr. Siskind practices. "Our attorney recommends that, other than a secure server such as RelayHealth, we should not be e-mailing patients or colleagues concerning any patient information," says Dr. Siskind. Not only does RelayHealth accommodate secure communications with patients, physicians can use the service to exchange secure electronic messages with other clinicians and staff as well."
Dr. Jue's 1,157 Registered Patients Can't Be Wrong - RelayHealth Works
Not only does RelayHealth ensure the security and confidentiality of the online messages flowing through Dr. Jue's practice, but it's brought new advantages as well. "Relayhealth archives all patient messages for future reading, and delivers eScripts™, structured web consults, and many other benefits I didn't have with regular e-mail," says Dr. Jue. "Now I can provide a much better and—with the ability to attach Web links and self care resources—a much richer response to patient concerns."
Dr. Jue has also found that RelayHealth helps him be more productive in the exam room. "Many of my office visits are more focused and shorter because patients have filled out webVisits® prior to their office visit," he notes.
If you're wondering if Dr. Jue's foray into online messaging has paid off, here's a practice statistic for you. On a typical day, Dr. Jue gets only one or two phone messages-impressive, isn't it? What's more, he's got an astonishing 1,000+ patients registered with the RelayHealth service. And business is thriving. He gets many inquiries from patients' friends and family members hoping to switch to his practice. One of the key reasons they state? His accessibility.
Case in point: One patient packed up her family for a three-month job stint in Central America. When her daughter developed a troubling fever, she used a RelayHealth webVisit to communicate the symptoms to Dr. Jue. "I was able to suggest possible diagnoses, which she took with her to a local hospital. With this context, the child was quickly diagnosed with typhoid fever, and successfully treated," explains Dr. Jue.
With RelayHealth, Convenience Is A Dual Proposition For Dr. Baquero And His Patients
Recognizing the many opportunities technology affords to improve communication, Dr. Victor Baquero was excited about RelayHealth right off the bat. "Web messaging is so much better than asking the patient to return to the office to discuss results, mailing a letter, or calling the patient on the phone."
As patient recruitment took off, RelayHealth did not disappoint. Dr. Baquero has found the service reduces call volume, speeds prescription refills, and dramatically streamlines — and improves — communication with patients.
Here's a perfect example: One Baquero patient suffered a seizure while out of town and required hospitalization for several days. Thanks to RelayHealth, Dr. Baquero was able to provide key medical information to the treating physicians, and to support the patient's wife during the process. Luckily, all ended well and "the patient and his wife couldn't thank me enough when they saw me back in the office for follow up," notes Baquero.
For more routine matters, Baquero has found RelayHealth a great tool for serving patients with chronic health conditions. "For diabetes, hypertension-even mood disorders — I can really fine tune management by asking my patients to keep me regularly updated with current values," he says.
And while RelayHealth has delivered for patients, Dr. Baquero finds it a huge help himself, with time savings proving an especially big benefit. "eScripts are great — with two or three mouse clicks I can refill a prescription. You can't beat that," he adds. "And the ability to check formulary data really simplifies prescribing."
Dr. Good Resolves Patient Messages In Minutes, Which Never Happens On The Phone
"Every day I have a stack of phone messages I have to return during my lunch, or between appointments," says Dr. Good. "And when I'm actually lucky enough to catch someone live, I have no control over how long the interaction's going to be. A question that could reasonably be answered in one minute becomes a 15-20 minute phone conversation ('while I've got you on the phone...'). Meanwhile, the patient who's paying me for my time is stuck in the exam room shivering in their gown."
"With RelayHealth, I'm much more efficient. I sign on, answer a specific question, send my reply, and I'm done. It takes one to two minutes, which never happens on the phone — it's always at least 10 minutes and three, four, even five questions later before I hang up."
In addition to prescription renewals and referrals, one of Dr. Good's favorite RelayHealth features is the inherent clinical structure/documentation. Notes Dr. Good, "In 10-30 calls per day, I end up giving free medical advice — I listen to patient's stories, use my medical knowledge, and render a professional opinion. If I had my way, I'd channel these questions through RelayHealth. More than one-half of all malpractice suits are related to giving free medical advice over the phone and, with malpractice rates increasing 100-percent this year, it's an issue that really needs to be addressed."
No Flood of "e-calls" Here; Dr. Zebrowksi Gets Less Than 6 RelayHealth Messages Per Day
RelayHealth allows Dr. Zebrowski the space he needs to thoughtfully and thoroughly address his patients' concerns. "I'm able to respond more completely by e-mail than by telephone," he says. "I can devote my entire attention to the task at hand without being interrupted fifteen times!"
Of course, phone calls represent a major source of those interruptions, which leads to another RelayHealth benefit. By giving patients the option to contact the office online, Dr. Zebrowski's practice sidesteps the need for additional personnel or telephone lines to help alleviate the already-saturated telephone system.
This does more than simply divert inquiries to another channel. Far from being inundated with "e-calls" from patients, Dr. Zebrowksi's practice typically receives less than six RelayHealth messages a day — despite the fact that hundreds of patients actively use the service.
And speaking of patients, Dr. Zebrowski can catalog a number of reasons why RelayHealth fits the bill. Here are just a few:
- Patients like to communicate without being put on hold on the telephone, or getting a busy signal;
- They like having comments on paper, so they can review them several times instead of trying to remember what was said during their visit;
- They appreciate the ability to phrase their concerns so they're accurately reflected-"with RelayHealth they're not rushed or nervous," notes Dr. Zebrowski.
"This extra service positions us as an advanced, responsive medical practice — one that puts patient concerns first," says Dr. Zebrowski.
Dr. Ford: 600+ Patients Online And Growing
For Dr. Ford, there's nothing particularly revolutionary about communicating with patients online — it's been a practice at his medical group for nearly a decade. That familiarity, however, is precisely why the group now uses the RelayHealth service. It became increasingly obvious that regular e-mail wasn't going to cut it. An encrypted solution was necessary to accommodate growth, and to meet HIPAA guidelines. Enter RelayHealth.
While "the RelayHealth user interface is effective and efficient, and the e-script feature very helpful", the biggest benefit by far, according to Dr. Ford, is the ability to delegate non-medical issues (referrals, insurance updates, etc.) to the office staff, leaving physicians free to do the important work of practicing medicine.
"We're trying to ensure that physicians spend their time performing actions which benefit the patient-physician relationship," says Ford. The clinical structure and routing rules of the RelayHealth service help group physicians focus on dispensing medical advice, following up on recent visits, and managing new symptoms. Administrative tasks, which had been eating into the physicians' time, can now be efficiently handled by the staff.
Patients appreciate the access RelayHealth affords, and have expressed their support via their willingness to pay for online webVisit consultations. At the same time, it's now easier for physicians like Dr. Ford to focus on medicine, and avoid the minutia.
RelayHealth Helps Dr. Kleinman Generate Practice Revenue
Dr. Kleinman adopted RelayHealth because he wanted to give his patients easier access to medical care. "Think of your moms who can't get in; think of the people at work," he says. "They all have time pressures — and we do them a great service by offering a novel way to get a hold of us."
Of course, Dr. Kleinman has realized some benefits himself. He's found RelayHealth easy to use and incredibly reliable ("it never goes down"). And it's helped his practice manage patient flow more efficiently, and generate revenue through online webVisit consultations.
For Dr. Kleinman, "webVisit fits the bill." He adds, "the entire webVisit takes but a few minutes to complete — it's more efficient than if I were to bring the patient in, not to mention more convenient for them." His policy is to only charge in instances where he would otherwise bring the patient in for an office visit. "That way, I am not losing revenue," notes Dr. Kleinman.
Does answering RelayHealth messages add to Dr. Kleinman's workload? "No way!" he says. "First off, the workload is already there. Those patients will be contacting your office in some manner anyways. If you can take good care of five patients online instead of having them come into the office, you can see other patients who truly need to be seen in person during those office time slots."
Dr. Roseff Uses RelayHealth To Notify Patients Of A Medication Recall
One of the prime reasons Dr. Scott Roseff sought out and signed up with RelayHealth was for the ability to electronically broadcast late-breaking news to patients — without having to store and maintain a patient e-mail database on his personal computer.
His due diligence was rewarded when a medication common to many of his patients was recalled. "It would have been extremely time consuming, to say the least, and difficult at best to determine which patients were using this medication," said Dr. Roseff. "Instead of pulling dozens of patient charts, trying to figure out who was using the drug, and calling every patient, I just composed a RelayHealth message about the recall and, with the click of a button, sent it to all my patients. It was simple, and effective."
In fact, this broadcast ability is one of the key benefits Dr. Roseff touts when recruiting patients to the service. "I tell them my specialty of reproductive medicine is constantly changing, and I can keep them informed of the latest developments ONLY if, and when, they register at RelayHealth," he says.
Those patients who do register are rewarded with a higher level of service: If patients call after hours or on weekends, Dr. Roseff simply pops into his RelayHealth Web site and reviews their medical history and pertinent information before calling them back.
Monitoring Questions Is Easier With RelayHealth vs. E-mail, Says Dr. Edwards
"I wanted a better way for my patients to communicate with me," says Dr. Edwards. "With RelayHealth, my patients can contact me with ease — and they can consult me without making an office appointment and enduring the subsequent wait, travel, and expense."
The phone system at Dr. Edwards' practice is fairly complex, and it can prove near impossible for callers to reach a 'live' person on the phone. Patients often end up in voicemail instead. The RelayHealth service enables Dr. Edwards' patient to contact him more easily and more directly, and with less frustration.
RelayHealth also makes it possible for him to share normal lab results with patients, a task that proved too time-consuming to accomplish via phone.
His patients have proven so receptive to the added service that Dr. Edwards assesses fees for certain message types: "I charge for any consultation that requires decision making", says Dr. Edwards. "I don't charge for refills, lab results, or simple questions that take just a few seconds to answer — the way I look at it, a charge is appropriate for things that would otherwise require an office visit."
For Dr. Edwards, the benefits of secure online communication have really measured up. "All the feedback has been positive," he says of RelayHealth. "My patients really feel I am giving them extra service."
Through RelayHealth, Dr. Schafer Offloads Message Load To Support Staff
Conforming the practice of medicine to a regimented schedule is challenge enough. Add two separate office locations to the mix and things can get downright crazy. RelayHealth can help. Just ask Dr. Mark Schafer: "Messages used to chase after me," he says. "But now I access my messages wherever and whenever I want. And by routing messages about scheduling, referrals, and prescription refills, I can quickly offload much of the message load to my support staff."
"RelayHealth struck me as an easy way to solve that high level of frustration," he says, and experience has borne out that assumption. "My patients all love RelayHealth — they love the ability to send a message quickly, and to get a quick response."
And while Dr. Schafer's patients have embraced RelayHealth, that doesn't mean they abuse the service. "I've found that the vast majority of patients respect my time and do not send unnecessary or lengthy messages."
It's hard to object to a convenience that makes life a bit easier. With RelayHealth, Dr. Schafer's patients manage their medical needs quickly and easily, and Dr. Schafer delivers added value — without adding to his workload.
