Digital Doctor Visits are Up and Rising in the US

Some visits are a simple email back and forth, while others are a bit more sophisticated. For a physician in order to collect it’s almost easier to use one of the pre-set formats, as this way you can collect and be sure all information is exchanged with an encrypted connection. There is a limit too as to what you can do online as some conditions really should be seen in person, and a web cam can also be very helpful, like looking at a wound or skin rash for a simple example.

Some insurance carriers are beginning to offer coverage but sometimes the cost is very affordable and you may not even need to worry about that end of it. Also, medical devices are now entering the picture and this will continue to grow so as an example a follow up visit relative to controlling diabetes and reviewing current medications could be done digitally if the information was complete and available for the doctor to read. I post quite a bit on the site here about devices and try to keep up with what is coming online, to include the infamous blue tooth inhaler, yes there is one of those in the works.

OptumHealth, a unit of UnitedHealth Group Inc., will enroll you as a physician anywhere across the US if you want to earn additional money with web consults and they are also working with American Well, again, I don’t know all the fine print but it was announced not too long ago that they were recruiting for this purpose. BD

Back in November I posted about American Well and the Blue Cross/Blue Shield collaboration in Hawaii and now it has expanded once more to OptumHealth, which is part of UnitedHealthCare and offers it’s own PHR (personal health record) for participants.

Also in April, American Well physician video services became available in Minnesota with Blue Cross.

OptumHealth (Subsidiary of UnitedHealthCare) Teams Up With American Well for 24/7 Physician Consults

This year, 39% of doctors said they’d communicated with patients online, up from just 16% five years earlier, according to health-information firm Manhattan Research, a unit of Decision Resources Inc. So far, the most common digital doctor services are the simplest ones, like paying bills, sending lab results and scheduling appointments. But patients like Ms. Rust are also using computers to deal with issues that usually require a trip to the doctor’s office.

Among companies that now cover digital visits are Aetna Inc. and Cigna Corp., as well as Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in states including Florida, Hawaii and North Carolina. WellPoint Inc. and Humana Inc. are trying it in parts of the country, and may expand their coverage.

Another option is live online visits, using technology from companies such as American Well Corp. The firm has created an encrypted setup for real-time interaction between doctors and patients, using Web video, live chat or a phone conversation connected through a secure computer system. OptumHealth, a unit of UnitedHealth Group Inc., is rolling out the American Well system nationally.

Digital Doctor Visits Become More Common - WSJ.com