Tampa group health insurance "Telehealth" is health care right now.
- Scott Holcomb
- May 12, 2015
- 3 min read
Telehealth companies, like Teladoc, are quickly becoming the popular kid in class and for good reason the timing could not be any better.
With the continued explosion of iPhones, in the second quarter ended March 28, Apple sold 61.2 million iPhones, up from 43.7 million in the year-earlier period. That’s just below the 74 million they sold last holiday season, it’s almost natural our livelihood takes place on these gadgets.
Let’s assume you are reading this on your smartphone. It’s probably safe to say you do a majority of your important tasks using your phone, is that fair?
Pay your bills, find a home, get a job, shop for a car, call a cab, you can add to this list Infinitum.
What about Health Care on your Smartphone?
With the staggering numbers of people using their phones the argument for Telemedicine or Telehealth, which allows people to access board certified doctors via video or phone consultations has arrived.
The narrative has quickly changed from how and when, to what are we waiting for, and why have we not done this sooner?
Who waits in line anymore? Not me..
The old fashioned visits to the doctor’s office that takes two days, yes two days. I remember when I was a kid spending all day at the doctors and going the following day to get my prescription filled, or at least it seemed like it took two days.
Even before Telemedicine the days of waiting all day for anything are long gone. People are used to getting access to the things they want through their phone at an astounding rate of speed.
Luckily the average wait time for a telehealth provider Teladoc, one of the pioneers in telemedicine is around 8 minutes.
This means you can have access to a video consultation with a U. S. board certified doctor within 8 minutes and can get treated and prescribed for many medical conditions during this phone visitation.
Many of these consultations 5.7 million in 2014 are happening at work and employers are quickly accessing the value of this cutting edge medical benefit to offer its employees.
According to a survey by the National Business Group on Health, nearly half of all employers plan to provide Telehealth services in 2015.
Companies like Discount Tire with over 6,500 employees are able to reduce health plan costs by adding a medical benefit and increase employee productivity by eliminating costly trips to the ER and Urgent care and missing time out of work to make an appointment with their PCP.
Telehealth companies are gaining a wider acceptance for multiple reasons.
Jason Gorevic, CEO of telehealth pioneer Teladoc, says the industry is being driven by higher demand for access to care because of an aging population and requirements under the Affordable Care Act.
Another reason he cites is the proliferation of high-deductible health plans, which is causing employers and payers to look for lower cost alternatives for their membership.
Is it safe?
Dr. Henry DePhillips, Chief Medical Officer is in charge of overseeing and delivering high-quality clinical care gives his stamp of approval in this recent article. "Why Telehealth is a safe health care option."
In it he states personally he does not hesitate to recommend telehealth to any patient with a non-emergency medical issue.
The process for using Teladocs services involves much more than just making a telephone call. Every telemedicine patient must provide a complete personal health record, often times supported by the medical history provided by their health plan.
All Teladoc physicians review the medical history and any clinical notes before they speak to a patient.
Asking a full complement of questions the doctors utilize guidelines and evidence-based clinical practices for more than 100 diagnoses which make up the majority of the issues treated through this process.
One of the concerns is a liability and how a company like Teladoc and other telemedicine companies handle these occurrences.
Interestingly Teladoc provides the medical liability coverage for all of its physicians nationwide.
When asked about liability, “After performing 750,000 consultations over the past 12 years, there has never been a liability claim in the history of the company,” says Dr. DePhillips.
Having 24/7 access to a doctor through your phone looks to be much more than the future of medicine it seems to be healthcare right now.
Accurate Insurance Solutions Tampa’s employee benefits consultants are the leader in implementing Telehealth for small and large companies.
We provide the right solutions to offer your employees access to this added medical benefit.
This simple new way to access qualified doctors is allowing companies to save money by avoiding urgent care visits and at the same time allowing companies to see a huge ROI with increased productivity of its employees.
To learn more about Telehealth and other employee benefit news visit www.acccurateinsurancesolutions.com or call 813-994-4114.
Click below to learm about Telehealth for employers and employees.
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