Managing E-mail Interactions with Patients: A Discussion with Clinicians in Evaluating the Personal Health Link Project

One software feature in the Personal Health Link (PHL) Project allows members of Kaiser Permanente to send secure e-mail messages to clinicians and staff. As an early step in the PHL evaluation process, a group of primary care physicians met to discuss their opinions and experiences with e-mail interactions with patients and to suggest strategies for effectively managing these e-mail interactions. Most clinicians spoke from their experience with e-mail interactions with patients in a conventional e-mail environment; only one clinician in the group was using PHL.