REGIONAL DERMATOLOGY would like to give you the chance to communicate with your doctors, other healthcare providers (such as nurses), and administrative services by electronic mail (email).

Sending private patient information by email, however, has a number of risks that you should think about.

Risks of Email

• Email may be instantly sent worldwide and be received by many intended and unintended recipients.
• Those who get email can pass on messages to anyone without the original sender’s permission or knowledge.
• Users can easily misaddress an email.
• Backup copies of email may exist even after the sender or the recipient has erased their copy.  All emails will be kept in your medical record.  This means that all people who have access to the medical record will be able to see the emails.
• You should not use your employer’s email system to send or receive private medical information.  If you choose to send or receive an email from your workplace, there is a chance your employer could read the message.
• Email messages may not be answered on the same business day.  We will make an effort to read and respond to email as soon as possible, but we cannot guarantee that any email message will be answered within any set period of time. 

Never use email in an urgent situation or in an emergency.

Conditions for the Use of Email

If you agree to the use of email, you agree to the following rules:

Your message should be short.  If you feel your message is too long for an email, you may wish to call our office or schedule an appointment.

Please write the topic of your email in the subject line.

Please write your name and patient identification number, if known, in the message.

It is the policy of Regional Dermatology to make all email messages sent or received that are about medical treatment a part of your medical record.  We will treat such email messages with the same amount of confidentiality as other portions of the medical record.

We will make every effort to protect the privacy of email information.  All of our employees must use password-protected screen savers whether they are working in the office, hospital or their home office.  However, due to the possibility of technical problems, we cannot guarantee the security of all emails. Your use of email is an acknowledgement of this insecurity and your acceptance of the risk.

Regional Dermatology may forward email messages as needed for diagnosis, treatment, and reimbursement.  Regional Dermatology will not pass on the email to others without your prior consent.

Because some medical information is sensitive and the privacy of email is not guaranteed, you should not use email for communications about sensitive information. Some examples are protected diagnoses (such as mental health conditions or substance abuse problems), information about HIV/AIDS, and workers’ compensation injuries.

To prevent identity theft, we require that you come into the office to change your address or other contact information maintained in our records.  You cannot do this by email.

Do not send financial information, credit card numbers, checking account numbers, or any similar information to Regional Dermatology by email. We will not ask you for this information by email.  Any email supposedly from Regional Dermatology asking for credit card or checking account information is fraudulent. Please let us know if you receive such an email.

It is your duty to protect your password or other means of access to email sent or received from Regional Dermatology.  Regional Dermatology is not responsible for breaches of confidentiality caused by the patient.

You may withdraw consent to the use of email at any time by email, verbal or written communication with Regional Dermatology.

Please contact us if you would like us to take your e-mail out of our system and not use.