MEDEO, and also email

JULY 24TH, 2022 - CONCERNING MEDEO:

Over the past 18-24 months, we have introduced Medeo messaging, to facilitate communication, mostly from Dr. Lalor to his patients, but also providing the opportunity for his patients to contact him directly.  Unfortunately, the system, which is provided at our experience to improve patient care, is somewhat limited and we cannot "turn it off" temporarily, such as with vacations or office closure, and the secretary/office staff does not have direct access to all the messages.  We understand that many physicians in the community do not activate, or "turn on", the option for the patient to respond or reach out to the physician.

For this reason, we need you to understand:

If you have reached out to Dr. Lalor through Medeo, and he is not responding, please understand that he may be either on-call in the hospital, temporarily too busy, or away, and the office might be closed.  You will need to contact the office staff by telephone, and please tell them that you have sent a Medeo message.  Alternatively, you can speak to your PCP with that question, to see whether he/she can answer the question or help you, and as you know, they do receive detailed letters from Dr. Lalor.

We think the benefits of Medeo outweigh the disadvantages, but we are concerned if you use Medeo, especially for anything urgent, and you do not hear back.  Please seek alternative methods for getting the appropriate health information or medical advice.

EMAIL POLICY (AND ESPECIALLY CONCERNING IBD FLARES OR QUESTIONS)

Lately we have had an increasing number of patients contacting us by email with important medical information.  This can include symptoms, new or pre-existing conditions, reactions to medications or details about disease flare.

Our email system is not secure, and we do not have the capacity to process these emails.  The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario and the Canadian Medical Protective Association strongly recommend against email with patients, unless a variety of safeguards are in place.