UW Medicine warns patients they may be billed for some MyChart messages - The Seattle Times
UW Medicine will start billing patients for certain MyChart messages that provide medical advice, care or consultation.
Starting June 27, patients will see a notification warning them that they may be charged for messages that include information about care or consultation that "otherwise would have been done through a clinic or telemedicine appointment."
The change comes as the use of MyChart messages has seen a significant increase over the past few years as it has become another method to seek medical advice. In a public webinar last week, UW Medicine said patient-initiated messages on the online portal have nearly tripled in the last four years, from just under 550,000 in 2019 to 1.4 million in 2022.
The change also applies to patients at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center; other health care systems like the Cleveland Clinic and UCSF Health have adopted similar measures.
Most MyChart messages will remain free, but those that require medical expertise and more than five minutes of a provider's time may result in a charge.
As with all other medical services, the health care system will first bill a patient's insurance provider. Spokesperson Susan Gregg said UW Medicine anticipates that roughly 5% of messages or less may be billed.
The cost will vary based on insurance and may change periodically. Most private insurance will cover the messages at "little to no cost," UW Medicine said, and anticipated costs could range from $14 to $52 for those on Medicare, $7 to $28 for those on Medicaid, $27 to $98 for those without insurance.
What messages won't be billed?
- Messages scheduling an appointment
- Messages requesting a prescription refill
- Questions that lead to an appointment or are related to billing or a visit in the past week
- Messages that take less than five minutes of a clinician's time to answer
- Messages initiated by the health care team such as one asking for information or giving an update on a topic that the patient did not bring up
What messages could be billed?
- Requests for new medications, to fill out medical forms or new referrals
- Questions about new symptoms or problems
- Questions about news or journal articles
- Changes to a chronic condition
Referrals for support services like physical therapy or nutrition services that are related to an existing treatment plan are not considered new and will not be billed, according to UW Medicine.
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