In an effort to cut healthcare costs from after-hours emergency room visits for non-emergencies, companies in the telemedicine space have been rolling out alternatives. The latest comes from Verizon this week. Its Virtual Visits platform is designed to be used when people feel like they’re coming down with a cold or the flu or some other acute condition.
Here’s how it works: Users log on from smartphone or tablet and see what their co-pay is. They fill out a brief questionnaire. On the other side, doctors enter a user name and password and authentication code when they log in to see patients. Where states allow it, doctors can transmit prescription orders to the patient’s pharmacy. The data exchanged by each side of the conversation is encrypted. Aside from filling out the documents, the conversations last about 20 minutes, according to Leigh Ann Ruggles, director for strategy and business development at Verizon Mobile Health Solutions.
In a phone interview with MedCity News, Ruggles said the company sees three different markets where Virtual Visits could add value. Health plans, self-insured employers — it could reduce workflow interruptions and absent employees since they can log on to the service 24/7. Health systems are another potential market because they could present it as an alternative to clinics at national drug store chains. Ruggles points out that having this service would allow the health systems’ physicians to concentrate on other, more serious cases.
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The early adopters have been self-insured employers — the market it was initially designed to help. But Ruggles said health systems have shown interest as well, although she declined to name any customers.
Virtual Visits data can be integrated with patient’s primary care physician records. The mobility built into the platform means people will be more likely to use it and it adds more flexibility to physician-patient interactions.
It will be interesting to see what the co-pay is. It seems like young and middle-aged professionals who work long hours would be the most common users. I think a critical audience could be parents of young children who might prefer not to make a late night emergency room visit, but that would require pediatricians in the provider network Verizon uses.
Although I would have thought loyalty to a physician would make people less inclined to request a late night appointment from a physician they never met before, the company is betting, as others have, that convenience trumps familiarity.
Some of the companies that compete in the primary care, non-emergency telemedicine space include Teladoc and American Well, One Medical, and Sherpaa Health.
