HIPAA regulations prevent doctors from sending patient information via standard e-mail, instant message or using other online communication tools, so it is very hard for doctors to consult in a timely fashion with their peers… until now.

Practice Fusion has added a new Clinical Collaboration feature to its electronic health record. The Physician Collaboration and Messaging function is based on intuitive social media style messaging and it gives doctors, nurses and other medical providers a way to communicate directly with other doctors outside of their practice. Better communication means that doctors can provide better treatment to their patients.

Available to existing and new Practice Fusion users, the module maintains patient privacy while allowing doctors to connect with other doctors. Since the module is part of Practice Fusion’s electronic health record, doctors send and receive HIPAA-compliant messages from the existing fax referral list.

Doctors can even add new contacts and start messaging them immediately, even if they aren’t Practice Fusion users. Doctors can electronically retrieve a patients’ medical history and use the messaging system to get a quick consult or check on the status of a referral.

Now physicians will be able to ensure that their patient has continuity of care once they leave the doctor’s office.