Email Your Doc, 24/7

Parents increasingly are asking for greater access to their children's pediatricians through email and other online means of communication, according to a new survey.

Healthcare IT News reports that half of parents surveyed in a national poll would like greater electronic access to their children's healthcare providers but less than 15 percent actually have that kind of communication. Nearly 90 percent of respondents to a separate poll reported a desire for email access to their pediatricians.

According to the article, physicians generally choose not to use email with patients because they are not reimbursed for electronic services or because they are concerned that these types of services could open them up to medical liability.

So what would this system look like? Would it be regulated, or would it represent a return to the very personal, familiar relationship with family physicians? Could it be a virtual house call, making treatment more accessible and efficient? Or would it just open the medical profession up to a barrage of requests they can't handle?