The Alltalk AVP FAQ has a good discussion of this:
http://www.lrsupport.com.au/avp_faq.htm

Why not just use secure Email?
The main reason are these:

+Secure email is in the wrong format for Health Messages. Recipients
will need to apply the message manually to the patients record.
+You generally need to install certificates for all of your
recipients in a third party application or address book. [GK IE
outlook AND Practice software]
+It is often easy to "forget to" Secure or Sign your email!
+There is no guarantee of delivery and no way to automatically apply
any acknowlegements to the patients record.
+There has been very poor update of PKI because existing solutions
are generally cumbersome and difficult to manage and maintain.

AVP overcomes these problems by:
+Letters and referrals are converted into Health messages understood
by your practice software and can be automatically applied to the
patients record (even creating the record for you).
+Alltalk will automatically aquire PKI certificates for the
recipients where present. In other cases the messages are delivered
via existing encryption technologies without compromising digital
signature.
+Only one address book entry is required - the one in your practice
software. When a recipient changes encryption certificates, Alltalk
will automatically re-aquire the new one.
+More than 1600 practices are able to accept your messages TODAY with
no changes at their end.
+You cant just "forget" to secure or sign the document. AVP documents
are always secure and using AVP templates, Referrals are
always "signed" by default.
+To ensure the recipient knows that they arent required to keep the
paper copy, AVP includes Signing Certficiate information inside the
electronic message. For those patients who feel more comfortable with
a paper copy, AVP prints a reminder at the bottom of the page that a
digitally signed electronic message has been generated.


--- In alltalk-avp@..., "lrs_y_gk_07" <glenk@...>
wrote:
>
> Submitted by: Unknown
>
> Why do people feel it necessary to have different applications on
their
> desktop to do send Secure (PKI) messages when Microsoft Outlook
already
> does it.
>
> All these different packages that people are trying to peddle seem
like
> a waste of time and money especially when it seems to me that
everyone
> already has it for free on their desktop.
>