Should you 'friend' your doctor on Facebook? - CNN.com
A study by Manhattan Research of nearly 9,000 U.S. adults showed that last year, 5 percent of respondents had sent or received an e-mail message to a doctor and that 49 percent were interested in doing so in the future.
A survey this year by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions showed that 55 percent of consumers want to be able to communicate via e-mail with their physicians.
Although neither survey inquired about doctors and patients communicating via social networking sites, Deloitte plans to ask about it next time.
"In our next survey, we're going to ask if their doctor does Facebook, if their doctor tweets," said Paul Keckley, executive director of the Deloitte group, referring to Twitter, another popular social networking site.
Keckley says he suspects that social networking will be much like e-mail: Patients are hungry for it, but doctors not so much.
This item from CNN focuses on former NBA player Walter Jordan, who has established contact with his doctor through Facebook. Several years ago, I was told doctors weren't enthusiastic about online patient contacts because insurance companies only reimburse them for face-to-face visits, a situation this article touches on. Seems to me this should be a focus of any healthcare reform initiative, with would also require a look at what kinds of doctor-patient engagements make sense online and which should require an in-person appointment.
