Seeing a doctor can be a pain sometimes. It’s painful and inconvenient enough to be sick as it is. What’s even worse is having to sit at a doctor’s office for hours on end and wait for the receptionist to call your name.
Well, there’s another way to see a doctor and it’s being advertised as being the “faster” and “easier” way: you do it online.
Behind this new service is American Well. Telemedicine isn’t actually a completely new idea, but this is just one of the applications that’s making the technology more accessible for more people.
Potential patients can check in with a U.S. trained, Board-certified doctor through their iOS or Android devices. Each ten-minute video chat consultation will cost $49(USD). If the appointment takes longer that, then additional charges will apply.
Dr. Teresa Myers, who practices telemedicine, explains: “I guarantee that not a single person who practices telemedicine would say this is a replacement of traditional medicine. This is an extension of traditional model care. With telemedicine, we can appropriately triage patients to higher levels of care needed to avoid preventable negative outcomes, which includes direct and indirect costs.”
Wile this technology definitely adds convenience and immediacy, it can’t be used as a substitute for in-person examinations and testing.
[via C|NET]
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