Working From Home Part II

Working From Home Part II – Telemedicine

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Imagine it’s 10 am. You’re enjoying a nice cup of coffee. In a few minutes you will start seeing patients. But you don’t have to get out of your chair, or leave your living room! The patient just popped up like a pop-tart onto your screen. Welcome to the brave new world of Telemedicine.

Last week, in Working From Home Part I, I discussed doing Chart Reviews. In today’s post, I will address the growing opportunities for physicians doing Telemedicine.

With all of the advances in digital information and communication, telemedicine is an up and coming area for healthcare growth. More and more companies are springing up that offer telehealth services for minor, primary care health issues.

A physician working for such a company is provided electronically with the medical records and chief complaint for the patient. The “patient visit” will take place either via email or over the telephone. Sometimes only advice and information is given, other times a prescription may be recommended. If the doctor feels it is indicated, the patient will be referred to seek medical care in person.

Some of the most common patient calls are for:

Sinusitis

Urinary Tract Infections &

STD’s

Calls are usually from 8-12 minutes. Physicians are paid on average from $20-$35 per call. Internal Medicine, Family Practice and ER physicians are in demand, however any physician who is comfortable with primary care medicine could be eligible.

Once hired, a physician can let the company know their availability to take patient calls.

A number of Telemedicine companies I spoke with alluded to the fact that they could be seeing a big increase in demand for their services. This is due in part to potential affiliations with pharmacy stores and insurance companies.

Another way telemedicine is used is in radiology. Since most images are now digitalized, some radiologists contract with tele-radiology companies and do all of their readings from home.

In California, legislation to update the telehealth law and remove policy barriers to service was signed into law on October 7^th by Governor Jerry Brown. This bill will (among other things):

Replace the outdated terminology of “telemedicine” with “telehealth.”

Update the definition of telehealth to reflect the broader range of services in use today.

Change the need for an additional written patient consent to a verbal consent.

Eliminate restrictions on reimbursement of services provided by email or telephone.

If you are interested in doing telemedicine, you could get in early on the curve, and be a part of what will likely be a growth area for the foreseeable future.

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Internal Medicine

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Internal Medicine