Page 29 - Leisure Living Magazine Holiday 2016

Let’s Get Social: How To
Communicate With Your
Doctor Online
“Law You Can Use” Courtesy of the Ohio State Bar Association
Many physicians, other health care professionals and hospitals use technology to communicate with patients and the public. Social me- dia such as Facebook and Twitter can help to communicate general healthcare information, promote provider services, build professional connections and provide an outlet to share experiences. But public so- cial media outlets usually are not the best platforms for sharing personal, patient-specific medical informa- tion with your health care providers. Here are some tips for communicat- ing with your health care providers in the digital age.
Use good judgment in communicating with your health care professional.
Q: How can I communicate digitally with my health care provider?
A: First, tell your health care provider you prefer to communicate by text, email or other electronic application. Providers have legitimate concerns about liability for violating patient pri- vacy, so they may request that you not communi- cate with them electronically or they may suggest that you use specific, approved apps or platforms that let you securely send messages and access your medical information. These secure platforms protect both you and your health care provider.
Q: Can I send information from fitness tracking or diabetes monitoring devices to my provider?
A: Ask your health care provider if he or she needs or can accept information from such appli- cations. Consumer fitness and health applications can help you stay on track with exercise routines or monitor calorie counts (and other measures), but many of them do not provide true medical monitoring. Ask your physician whether the ap-
plication protects your privacy, is accurate and reliable, and whether the data is useful to your physician. Your health care provider may be able to suggest which applications and medically ap- proved devices will best meet your medical needs.
Q: Why is it so hard for my health care provider to share information with other health care providers?
A: Health care providers can usually share patient health information with other health care providers for appropriate reasons, such as patient treatment. Sometimes a provider must get the patient’s permission before sharing the informa- tion, depending on the communication. Even if the information-sharing is appropriate and/or permitted, it can still be cumbersome to transfer information from one provider to another. Not all health care providers use electronic records, and not all electronic record systems “talk” to each other. Health information flows more freely be- tween healthcare providers now than in the past, but some information still must be sent by mail or fax.
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