Messaging is becoming more important in the healthcare industry for a variety of reasons. The ability to communicate via email with healthcare providers, payers and patients can dramatically improve the quality of healthcare, can lower healthcare costs by reducing adminstrative overhead and can improve the overall quality and accuracy of communications. Further, Osterman Research has found that the use of email can influence a significant percentage of patients to switch from one provider to another because of the convenience that this communication medium provides. This can result in a significant competitive advantage to providers that make better use of these technologies.