A dedicated clinician such as a nurse or advanced practice provider whose role is dedicated to reviewing and triaging patient messages coming in through medical practices’ patient portals. The idea is to free up time for physicians to see patients and complete other tasks.
Deeper Dive
The number of messages sent from patients to their physicians through patient portals have exploded since the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving doctors to have to respond to some messages during their off hours at home. To cut down on this “pajama time,” some medical practices are hiring dedicated staff just to sift through patient messages and forward only those requiring a physician response to that physician.
For example, Corewell Health in Michigan started a program where a registered nurse completes an initial triage of the “in-basket messages” arriving in the portal, while an advanced practice provider like a physician assistant or nurse practitioner serves as a second-line “inboxologist” to further manage patient requests. In this program, patient messages related to non-urgent medical questions or medication or test results are automatically routed to the registered nurse to answer or schedule an in-person visit as necessary. The RN then can forward messages requiring advanced clinical decision-making such as about medication side effects or new symptoms to the advanced practice provider inboxologist. That person addresses questions, creates referrals, authorizes prescription refills, etc.
Cooper Care Alliance in New Jersey also created a program, hiring a registered nurse as the inboxologist to scan phone and online portal messages to generate appropriate appointments, prescribe medications, give advice following office visits, order lab work and more. This cut down messages to physicians by 25%.