Agree.

You have pesky PHI in the middle. Funny how of all things, PHI hasn't done a thing to prevent data leaks in healthcare, but it has done fairly well in hindering all async communications with payors.

That’s not an excuse. There are messaging systems inside electronic medical record software they can use. If my healthcare provider can communicate to me via a website and show me all my labs and results and even synchronize with the Apple health app on my phone, surely, a doctor should be able to message an employee of the managed care organization.

Right. Specifically all modern EHR applications now support DirectTrust Direct Secure Messaging. This is basically just regular email with standardized encryption and other added security features necessary to make it HIPAA compliant.

https://directtrust.org/what-we-do/direct-secure-messaging

its not an excuse, it is an observation based on fact

Precisely!