MDLiveCare Offers Online Doctor Visits by Webcam and Integrates with HealthVault and Google Health

Here’s another new telemedicine service that integrates and with PHRs so you can have your records before and after the visit, available for sharing.

The company has also affiliated themselves with the new ShareCare. com website where those posing questions will get answers from both professionals and get answers and be marketed from the likes of Walgreens, United Healthcare and many more so the cost of an answer is going to cost you more advertising exposure. Here’s a sample below on what you would see on the ShareCare site.

New Website Sharecare.com–Some Health Advice Will Be From Advertisers So the Line Between Professional Information and Marketing Could Get Just A Bit More Grey and Confusing

ShareCare site is a little bit out there for me, especially in view of what happened with Nielsen scraping PatientsLikeMe. You can read the ShareCare.Com privacy information by clicking on the image below. Dr. Oz is on Sharecare.com and I like him, but still prefer my medical information without being marketed and giving up potential privacy.

Patients Like Me Experienced Data Mining Through a Data Mining Research Firm Break In –The Nielsen Company

We have companies applying for patents so they can match mined data now and with the seemingly lack of IT literate folks in some government places these days, they might get a patent and then we are all screwed when it comes to any privacy. I could see this being a potential subsidiary acquisition for an insurance company if I were to project here a bit – subsidiary warning here if you didn’t catch the hint.

Back on track with MdLiveCare you can participate here without having to involve the crowd sourcing site of Sharecare too with your consultation. Here’s the pitch for employers as when they keep you out of the doctor’s office, they save money. There are both sides to the coin and sometimes a web visit will work and they are connected to allow prescriptions to be written and work with LabCorp to send you to a lab if the visit required.

There is an annual membership fee to join or one can pay around $9.00 a month, and guests who are not members pay around $60.00 per visit, so if I were looking at that alternative, give me the face to face time with MD in persona under normal circumstances.

As mentioned, you can synchronize information with HeatlhVault and Google health for your PHR so there are some interesting possibilities here. As a doctor you can sign up and be available on the network to do online consultations. The program is also out there for insurance brokers to sell.

The company is also soliciting health insurance companies to join and you can see their pitch here for this side of the business. Again, I do try to look at various funding sources and acquisitions and mergers and who has access to what and while this looks to be very convenient and could save money, the data and the marketing here leave a bit on the questionable side for me. It appears that if you stay with the MDLiveCare and not venture over to the ShareCare site you could be spared some algorithmic marketing and potential data mining as a patient but the MDs look like they are prime targets to incorporate into the ShareCare site to answer questions and perhaps there’s some incentive in that area too. BD

Press Release:

SUNRISE, Fla., Oct. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Going online to talk to a doctor is emerging as a fast and low-cost cure for multiple healthcare irritations, ranging from unnecessary and middle-of-the-workday doctor visits to the difficulty of receiving after-hours, out-of-town or phone-based medical advice. Enter MDLiveCare, the first 24x7x365 virtual house call service to offer webcam, phone or email consultations for primary, pediatric, specialty and behavioral health care - all for as little as $39.95 per visit or $9.95 per month.

With one-hour guaranteed access to board-certified physicians and licensed therapists in every state, MDLiveCare is designed to treat non-emergency physical and mental health conditions for both children and adults, including fevers, colds, diarrhea, flu, bronchitis, stomach ache, anxiety, depression and marital problems.

Patients simply fill out an online medical history that will be available to the physician during the consultation and then make an appointment at www.MDLiveCare.com. In lieu of in-person visits, the service offers real-time virtual consultations that include:

The ability to speak to an on-call doctor or a specific physician, chosen from an online list that includes the provider's credentials.

The option to choose face-to-face video conferences via webcam, toll-free phone calls or secure email consultations. The video conference option works even at low bandwidth and includes a unique multi-user capability that allows the patient, multiple doctors and family members to be online at the same time as well as share documents and provide explanations on virtual whiteboards.

Electronic documentation of the consultation, enabling patients to retrieve the doctor's notes and recommendations post-appointment.

Optional integration with Google Health or Microsoft Health Vault personal health records (PHRs), allowing users to share their medical records from the MDLiveCare consultation with their own doctors for continuity of care. This is particularly useful for those with chronic medical conditions.

Prescription and lab test orders, via MDLiveCare's strategic alliances with SureScripts and LabCorp. Prescriptions can be delivered electronically to over 60,000 pharmacies, while lab tests can be performed at over 2,000 locations.

Privacy protection provided through MDLiveCare's secure, encrypted HIPAA-compliant platform.

"Studies show that 64% of doctor visits do not require face-to-face contact, 64% of ER visits are not emergencies, and 56 million rural Americans have inadequate access to primary care. MDLiveCare addresses these and other issues," said MDLiveCare Chairman & CEO Randy Parker. "Whether your new baby has a fever, you can't leave work to see the doctor, you're not feeling well at 3 am, you lose your heart medicine on an airplane, or your primary care doctor is simply not available, we can quickly get you in touch with a healthcare professional who can help at a price that is usually no more than a co-pay."

Non-members can utilize MDLiveCare for $59.95 per visit. Members pay $39.95 per visit and receive unlimited email advice. Memberships cost $9.95 per month ($99.95 per year) for an individual or $19.95 per month ($129.95 per year) for a family plan.

Group programs are available for employers, payors, and brokers and consultants.

About MDLiveCare

MDLiveCare (www.MDLiveCare.com) offers affordable, 24x7x365 healthcare consultations by webcam, phone or email, making it possible for patients to receive medical attention after hours, at work, while traveling, in rural areas, if they are chronically ill and bedridden, and in other scenarios where a face-to-face visit is not convenient. The company has a nationwide network of U.S. board-certified physicians, including specialists in the fields of pediatrics and dermatology, licensed therapists and certified life coaches. It offers both individual and group plans as well as a technology platform for physicians who want to incorporate online patient care into their practices. MDLiveCare was founded in 2006 and is based in Sunrise, FL.