Will your doctor soon be texting you?

Do you remember the first text you ever sent?

Mine was to a friend who was teaching me to use a cellphone, and it simply said ‘Test’.

Since then, I have probably sent over 10,000 texts to family, friends, strangers, automated reply services and more.

But one person I am still yet to text is my doctor.

For some reason, there is an electronic wall that seems to sit firmly between my healthcare professional and I.

It seems like the wall is build up both by historical norms, and also privacy concerns.

And yet, there must be a better way.

For all the power that technology has brought us, it seems like the ability to share information back and forth with a doctor we trust is still lacking.

But it seems that the evidence is mounting that the ability to use text messages in medicine has value.

A research study was released this week by JAMA Internal Medicine. The study reviewed data from 16 randomized clinical trials and found that texting can double the odds of patients sticking to medication adherence, with rates improving between 50 percent and 67 percent.

This evidence seems to show that doctors could simply adopt this practice to improve patient engagement, and build relationships.

However, according to Medical Economics “many physicians who text message do not take into account that the information they send and receive should probably be included in their medical records, nor do they consider the possibility that the protected health information (PHI) in their text messages is not being accorded the necessary privacy and security protection.”

This fear of breaching privacy of the patient records may be a big reason why doctors don’t use texts.

The other big reason for resistance is compensation.

As Niam Yaraghi explains “Physicians have to make a living. In the current fee-for-service payment system, doctors are only paid for the services for which they can submit a claim to the insurance companies. As you may have guessed already, there is no billing code for emailing or texting patients, and thus, doctors will not be reimbursed for the time and energy that they spend on emails and text messages.”

Although this seemingly goes against the altruistic reasons doctors have for wanting to help patients, the reality is that modern medicine is a complicated business.

The dream of receiving and sending cellphone text messages with your doctor may still be some time away.

Healthcare App developers are providing alternative solutions that may be the answer to this issues, protecting privacy, keeping a connection between doctors and the patients they care for.

With the increase in investment in mobile healthcare projected to grow to $1 Billion in 2017, it is only a matter of time before a seamless messaging solution becomes a reality.

For both doctors and patients, it seems that healthcare text messages are worth paying attention to.