U.S. physicians get three times as many EHR messages as their counterparts in other countries but could cut back on them by not copying their colleagues on communications, the American Medical Association reported.
Jay Holmgren, PhD, an assistant professor of medicine at University of California San Francisco, studied Epic EHR data in 2020 comparing 371 health systems around the globe, according to the Nov. 20 story. Drivers of the trend included the early adoption of patient portals in the U.S., overuse of prescription and system-generated messages, and CC'ing all physicians on a care team.
"To reduce inbox volume and system messages, the AMA recommends practices that tamp down on CC overuse," the article noted. "Physicians, for example, should only CC notes if there is a specific ask of the receiving physician."
Surgeons expend far less time looking at messages than primary care physicians or oncologists, Dr. Holmgren told the AMA.