Through a new alliance, telemedicine provider Doctor on Demand is working with Change Healthcare to give telehealth patients more power over their lab work.
Specifically, San Francisco-based Doctor on Demand will utilize the Change Healthcare Intelligent Healthcare Network, which processes clinical, financial and administrative transactions.
In the past, providers simply told telemedicine patients to go to a specific place at a specific time if any lab work needed to be done.
Now, through this collaboration, Doctor on Demand providers can order tests and refer patients to labs nearby. Patients can also pick a lab that works best for them. After the testing, the clinician can send the results to the patient through the Doctor on Demand platform.
As Steve Aylward, Change Healthcare’s senior vice president of partner enablement noted in a press release: “Is it really telemedicine if you’re not providing the service through the application?”
The news comes a little less than a year after Doctor on Demand announced plans to add lab testing services to its repertoire. Through the offering, when physicians need to order a test for patients, they can access numerous tests without having to go through other lab provider platforms. Patients can select from a variety of lab experiences and receive results through the Doctor On Demand app.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
“We want to remove any barriers that stand in the way of treating our patients over telemedicine — and by doing this we give our physicians direct access to the test results without having to go through a separate platform,” Doctor on Demand CEO Hill Ferguson said in an email interview at the time.
The company partnered with LabCorp and Quest Diagnostics to make the effort possible.
As for Change Healthcare, as a refresher, it was officially formed last March when McKesson got together with Change Healthcare Holdings. The deal combined the majority of McKesson Technology Services’ businesses with Change Healthcare Holdings. The company is based in Nashville, Tennessee.
In other recent news, Netsmart, a behavioral health and social services IT provider, signed an agreement to acquire Change Healthcare’s home healthcare and hospice solutions for an undisclosed amount.
Photo: mediaphotos, Getty Images
