It’s a practice that became popular during the pandemic and has stuck around: communicating with doctors and specialists through online portals. But now, some hospitals across the country are adding fees for using those portals, raising questions about whether this trend has reached Rochester.
Fees for communicating with doctors and specialists online have been added by hospitals nationwide. For example, the Cleveland Clinic recently announced that it will bill patients who message doctors online. Doctors at the Cleveland Clinic are reportedly receiving 110,000 messages every week, highlighting the increased workload associated with online messaging.
According to a recent national report, some doctors are charging patients when they message questions through MyChart, an online portal for communicating with medical professionals. But what about MyChart?
As of now, the University of Rochester Medical Center says it is not billing patients for messages on MyChart, according to reporting by News10NBC. While URMC is considering adding fees for MyChart messaging in the future, it has not yet made any decisions about implementing such fees.
It remains unclear whether fees for MyChart messaging would be paid by patients or insurance companies if URMC decides to move forward with this plan.
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