Mouse Calls
Increasingly, doctors are consulting their patients via the Internet. Are online physician consults the 21st century’s house calls?
House calls have made a comeback. Well, sort of. The difference these days is that patients seeking medical attention never actually see their physician face-to-face. The entire consultation is done online.
Although still in the nascent stages, online consultations could have a significant impact on the way physicians manage their practices. In addition to clearing a physician’s schedule of the routine, non-urgent consultations, which can comprise as many as one-fifth of a practice’s office visits1, online visits could represent a potential new revenue stream, with some insurers reimbursing physicians $25 to $30 for an online consultation2.
The long-term viability of the online model received a significant boost earlier this year when some larger insurers agreed to reimburse doctors for online visits. Other insurers are expected to follow, experts say.
So how does it work?
During a typical online consultation, patients are guided through a secure, online interview that covers more than 100 different types of symptoms3. This structured process not only allows patients to better articulate the ailments for which they’re seeking advice, but also presents doctors with an organized and uniformly formatted way to review their information. Prices vary from $25 to $125, which patients pay with a credit card at the end of the session4.
Companies operating consultation Web sites offer a range of services for participating physicians, such as visit documentation, patient scheduling, records maintenance and coordination of insurance reimbursements, patient co-pays and other payments.
As with many technological advancements, this new trend has its fair share of cynics and setbacks. According to some critics — which include many doctors — conducting a medical consultation online carries significant risks and raises ethical questions. For example, without seeing a patient in person, doctors must rely on verbal or written explanations of symptoms, which increases the likelihood of misdiagnosing a patient or allowing an illness to go undetected.
In addition, not all patients will fully understand the limitations of an online consult and there will be some who still require a face-to-face appointment. Ultimately, the service is not for everyone, doctors say, so careful patient selection is critical.
Still, by streamlining the bill-tracking process, maintaining organized records and increasing the convenience for both patients and physicians, many industry experts agree that the advantages of these virtual house calls make it a viable trend.
1 RelayHealth Provider Survey, February 2003
2 Cigna Corp. and Aetna Inc.
3 RelayHealth and Medem Inc.
4 RelayHealth and Medem Inc.
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