Virtual Physician Visits in U.S. get an Insurance Boost

Well... not for everyone in America yet, but we surely have a big start with Aetna and Cigna agreeing to compensate physicians for 'visiting' their patients online.

While initial efforts in Telemedicine in US fumbled due to lack of rural connectivity and funds, This had to happen someday since the Internet is now ubiquitous & cheap, patients are increasingly connected and the physicians getting web-savvy and many even doing email consults and web-cam meets. While the framework was fertile, the big question was : Would Insurance recognize an Online consult as a 'visit' and pay for it? If not, an online consult meant a avoided doctor visit and hence lost revenue - unless the Insurance was thrown out of the equation like our Pioneer "Internet doctor" Jay Parkinson did.

Obviously the Insurance guys are now convinced of savings.

True that nothing can potentially substitute a face to face visit with a physician - but both physicians and patients would agree that some follow-ups could be easily done online without losing anything. And this point - my mind's goin' dizzy thinking of multiple advantages for lotsa stakeholders ;-)

1. One big advantage would be that the primary care physician would now be able to squeeze more new patients in his practice since he might save good time on majority of follow-up patients - good for physicians revenues.

2. The patients on the other hand save on fuel, time and avoid contact with other patients [possibility of germs ;-)] and shorter wait times.

[Wait times - hmmm...where did I hear that before ? Canada ! Yes ! Canada would probably benefit a lot by having patients to follow-up online - But I maybe wrong and need to find out more. ]

3. Greater Internet adoption by physicians would be surely good for America as a whole, since the doctors could serve more patients

4. Chronic Disease Management could be a shade better with the software application sending out automated reminders and alerts

5. And The increasing momentum of Internet enabled doctors could even push home care to new dimensions - USB-thermometers, USB-Glucometers. etc. etc. streaming data to the physician for review.


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