Hospitals and health systems shouldn't "nickel and dime" patients by charging for MyChart messages as it could discourage them from seeking care, the co-directors of the Center for Patient Partnerships wrote in the Wisconsin State Journal.
UnityPoint Health Meriter hospital in Madison, Wis., started billing for patient portal messages on Feb. 14, joining more than a dozen other hospitals and health systems around the country that do the same, Sarah Davis and Jill Jacklitz of Madison-based University of Wisconsin wrote in the Feb. 25 article.
"We have enormous empathy for physicians who are burdened," they wrote. "We agree that the system is broken, but transferring the burden to patients' pocketbooks is not the solution."
Billing for some messages and not others, and the complexities of insurance, puts on the onus on the patient to understand when to send them, they noted. "The natural human reaction to possible financial impact is to avoid all portal communication," Ms. Davis and Ms. Jacklitz wrote. "Early research has documented this association."
This will send more patients to understaffed clinics or cause them to delay care until they necessitate an urgent or emergency visit, they said.
They recommended possible solutions including a flat fee per patient and billing insurance but never patients. "The administrative costs of collecting $35 to $70 can't really be worth it," they wrote.