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  • "Virtual Doc"

    ...Online Healthcare Marketplace, an interactive service that lets you talk to a physician in real time 24/7. (It rolls out in January, starting in Hawaii, with thousands of doctors to choose from.)
    Source...

    This topic is #16 in an interesting health care article titled, 18 Big Ideas to Fix Health Care Now.

    Your thoughts?

  • #2
    Re: "Virtual Doc"

    We need the EMH.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: "Virtual Doc"

      Originally posted by tutusue View Post
      Your thoughts?
      Interesting. I think it depends on what your ailment is. I imagine common things are easy to treat over the phone. For other problems, I think a doctor would need all their senses to make a diagnoses (for instance how you smell...though I hope not taste!)

      As long as they don't need to take your blood pressure or other vitals (to protect themselves against a law suit), I think a phone visit could be useful.

      I wonder if a doctor could prescribe cold medicine containing pseudoephedrine after just a phone consultation. If so, we're back in business, boys!


      Originally posted by Vanguard View Post
      We need the EMH.
      Haha, without following the link, I assume you mean ST:V
      "By concealing your desires, you may trick people into being cruel about the wrong thing." --Steven Aylett, Fain the Sorcerer
      "You gotta get me to the tall corn." --David Mamet, Spartan
      "
      Amateurs talk technology, professionals talk conditions." --(unknown)

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: "Virtual Doc"

        TS, I just read about that today in the HMSA magazine. It sounds great, but I'm not sure I like the idea. According to this the terms are:

        "Using a browser or a phone, consumers can gain immediate, live access to physicians in multiple specialties without leaving their homes or scheduling appointments. The ensuing interaction allows physicians to review relevant patient information, speak with and see the patients, prescribe medication and suggest follow-up care."

        Who is paying the doctor? What doctor is REALLY going to diagnose you and treat you over the computer? How are they going to review relevant information?

        "This on-demand conversation between consumers and physicians is under advisement of the patient's care coordinator, namely their primary care physician."

        Maybe this doc will email your new script to your own doctor along with his/her virtual exam, then allow you to arrange for followup. I can't see many medications/treatments being ordered this way, without eyes/hands on exam, unless they are practicing "cookbook medicine," which IME is much hated in the medical community.

        At this point, I think call-a-nurse costs less that this will (someone's gonna pay for the MD...) and provides much the same service.

        Think about it like this. Say I have a sore leg. I tell the virtual doc I fell and bumped it the other day, it made a big bruise and hurts like hell, but I can walk on it. According to my noncompliant way of thinking, I am healthy as a horse and have no medical history. I do not know that I have had diabetes for a year and ignored the symptoms, and I have not followed up with my doc about the borderline hypertension he found several years ago. There is so much that could go wrong in that scenario; I cannot see how a virtual exam will catch all that a personal exam would.

        Hmm. Golly. That sure put a bee in my bonnet.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: "Virtual Doc"

          Originally posted by cyleet99 View Post
          [...]
          Who is paying the doctor? What doctor is REALLY going to diagnose you and treat you over the computer? How are they going to review relevant information?[...]
          From my original source:
          You log on, scroll through a list of available top specialists, and connect immediately via phone or webcam. The physician sends e-notes to keep your personal doctor up to speed. Anyone can use it for a small fee. If your insurance plan offers it, you pay a co-pay, the doctor gets paid, and everybody's happy.
          Seems to me that the virtual doc service makes sense only if one's PCP isn't available...such as nights and week-ends. My guess is that a VD will refer a patient to the ER when necessary. Personally, I'd much rather contact a VD first, rather than head for the ER first.

          I wonder if there's such a thing as a USB powered blood pressure cuff that can transmit results!

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: "Virtual Doc"

            I think this will be a Godsend to the rural areas that are losing their doctors, like on the Big Island. But I don't know that I would make use of this type of service. I guess I'm fortunate that I have a doctor who I can call for advice, which at this time is still free. I hope this doesn't mean that now I'll have to pay for it!

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: "Virtual Doc"

              I'm not a doctor ~ I just play one on the internet

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: "Virtual Doc"

                The HMSA commericals have been shown at Consolidated Theaters for the last couple of weeks. I told my friend while watching this commerical is that the weird part is the remote doctor is wearing a stethoscope which doesn't make sense since the patients are not in range of the stethoscope.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: "Virtual Doc"

                  Originally posted by helen View Post
                  the weird part is the remote doctor is wearing a stethoscope which doesn't make sense since the patients are not in range of the stethoscope.
                  Cute. Sure the doc isn't just getting some extra money between patents?

                  Seriously, I'm sure that's just to give a better visual in the ad that it's a doctor.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: "Virtual Doc"

                    Originally posted by GeckoGeek View Post
                    [...]Seriously, I'm sure that's just to give a better visual in the ad that it's a doctor.
                    Exactly! A guy wearing a white lab coat could be a member of one of several vocations. The stethoscope visually defines a doctor or nurse!

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: "Virtual Doc"

                      I don't think doctors have worn those round mirror/reflector things on their heads in ages. Not that it makes any sense in this situation either.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: "Virtual Doc"

                        Depends how much it costs. Since my husband is a contractor, we don't have health insurance, but he makes way too much for us to qualify for any kind of assistance. Private health care is still too expensive though, when you have to pay for the whole premium yourself!

                        When I tell doctor's offices we don't have insurance, I automatically get treated like $hit over the phone. I can afford to pay them upfront for my office visit, but they hear "no insurance" and assume I'm trash. I get so tired of that. Hopefully being treated like trash via webcam is less humiliating than in person. It's always nice to be able to whip out my wallet and pay them in full right there though- like, "Ha ha, you thought you had me pegged, you snotty receptionist! Well, YOU WERE WRONG! Have a nice day!" AND it's hard to find a doctor that will accept you as a patient with no insurance. So if anyone knows of one...I just need to get a prescription refill....

                        Can't think of anything creative this time

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: "Virtual Doc"

                          Originally posted by surlygirly View Post
                          [...]AND it's hard to find a doctor that will accept you as a patient with no insurance. So if anyone knows of one...I just need to get a prescription refill....
                          Maybe one of the walk-in clinics can help you?

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