Only 8% of adults say they have received emails from their physicians, contrary to earlier predictions that the trend was poised to explode. However new technologies and services that are set-up to manage email and EMR securely, as well as to compensate physicians for their time online, are helping to propel greater physician/patient email adoption. And, promisingly, anectodal evidence suggests that patients are careful about using the services appropriately, assuaging physician fears of being deluged by unnecessary communication.

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According to a new study by Harte-Hanks, the Pharmaceutical industry is enjoying a higher-than-average click through rate for email campaigns and exhibits the third highest among all industries in the study.

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A recent study shows that email reminders concerning health are useful to educate and motivate consumers to increase their well being.

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Health plans and medical groups are now beginning to compensate doctors for responding to patient emails. Office visits take up valuable time and tend to be more costly. E-mail correspondence is a cost effective way for doctors to interact with patients and answer their health related questions.

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Although useful for its convenience, many doctors are still hesitant to communicate with patients via e-mail. Not only are they concerned about violating federal privacy laws by transmitting sensitive patient information online, but they are also concerned with not being properly reimbursed for medical help the offer over e-mail.

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A recent study by Manhattan Research found that 85% of doctors use email for professional communication purposes. US physicians are increasingly using email to communicate with other physicians, hospitals, health plans, and drug companies. However, the same study found that email communications between doctors and patients have remained stagnant. Link to full article.

An increasing number of doctors are using emails to communicate with patients. Approximately one quarter of doctors have corresponded with patients via email and many doctors believe email is easier at dealing with the minor questions that patients often have. Since it is evident that this type of communication between patients and doctors will only increase, the question now becomes one of how and if doctors should charge patients for answering emails. Both health insurers and doctors are now experimenting with ways of charging for such interactions.

B2B marketing expert Ruth Stevens, named "one of the 100 most influential people in B-to-B marketing" by Crain's BtoB magazine, gives her perspective on current email trends. She discusses three the impact of sender line on open rate, the importance of referral marketing, and the personal aspect of the email medium.

UseIt conducted a thorough exam of Email Newsletter Usability. The main conclusion was that readers merely scan or skim email newsletters. The design implication is clearly that the top of the newsletter will have the most impact and must be designed for high scannability. If longer newsletters are necessary, articles should be promoted at the top of the template and link to the full article lower down in the email.