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Physician-Patient E-mail Improves Quality, Study Finds. " Some doctors have been reluctant to communicate with patients via e–mail, in part because of reimbursement and medical liability concerns. But a new study in Health Affairs provides a compelling case for opening up the inbox to patients: It may improve the quality of care.

Researchers at Kaiser Permanente followed 35,423 patients with diabetes, hypertension, or both, over a two–month period. Those that used e–mail to communicate with their doctors saw a statistically significant improvement in measures from the Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set, a group of performance measures used by the managed care industry. "

This is exactly what you'd expect. Patients need to be able to talk to their doctors - and email is cheap, quick, efficient and effective . Even better, it allows everything to be documented, so there's no scope for confusion or misunderstanding !