Off topic: Video sessions with doctors now paid for by several US insurance companies

Created April 2015

Video Is About to Become the Way We All Visit the Doctor Wired

Re-imbursed by

  • UnitedHealthcare (US largest?),

  • Oscar,

  • WellPoint

  • BlueCross BlueShield plans (some)

Advantages of telemedicine to the consumer

  • Access

  • Immediacy (24 hours a day, 7 days a week)

  • Convenience

    • Example – working mother: “can’t take a day off of work to bring child to the doctor whenever they have the sniffles. Instead, they can fire up their phones, wait a couple minutes, and have access to one of 1,400 licensed physicians, who can provide them with a diagnosis and a prescription all by video”

Advantage to health insurer :

  • lower cost of a ”visit”

  • fast access will reduce the problem getting worse/more expensive

    Example US companies providing this online service via computers, smartphones, tablets,etc are

https://nowclinic.com/landing.htm

http://www.doctorondemand.com/

https://www.americanwell.com/

Observations by VitaminDWiki

  • Your personal doctor will rarely be the video conference doctor (currently)

  • Hope that virtual doctor will have access to your medical records, prescriptions, etc - in the future

  • Hope that you will be able to access the same doctor for follow-up "visits"

  • Hope that they will have some easy way of comunicating prescriptions to your local pharmacy

  • Dr. Watson (computer program which already passes med school final exams) will be available in a few years to

    • Virtual doctors, your personal doctor, yourself
    • And will have perfect access to millions of medical cases
Tags: Off Topic