Rx Health Matters: Benefits of telemedicine is to save time and money

When you’re sick, getting to the doctor is often the best and quickest way to start feeling better.

Doctors used to make house calls now the newest trend in medicine lets you make the call.

It’s called telemedicine.

Often times, telemedicine is cheaper than office visit and just as effective.

Jackson’s mom: “He was seven and a half weeks premature and he’s had breathing problems ever since he was born.”

Jackson’s severe allergies require him to see a specialist. For years, that meant packing up and traveling hours for a single office visit. Office visits, he has to make quite a lot. Thanks to some clever thinking and technology, now he only has to travel a few miles.

“It’s so much more convenient,” said Dr. Jay Portney, M.D. “That was my main thing. You know, that gas is expensive. This is great. It’s right around the corner,” he said. ” The only thing I can’t physically do is reach in through the screen and actually touch the patient.”

Today, visits with a doctor often require no travel at all.

Justin Wright/Patient: “During tax season, I can’t go sit in a doctor’s office for however long when I knew what the problem was,” said Justin Wright, a patient who uses an app to talk to his doctor.

Justin is an accountant, who tells us the fall is one of his busiest times of the year. A swollen eye and a slight tick cried out for a visit to the doctor, he said, which would take time he didn’t have to spare. His wife said there’s an app for that.

Justin Wright/Patient: “As busy as we get that time of year, I don’t have time to do that, to sit in a waiting room. I mean, the whole process was like ten minutes, they called in my prescription, I was able to go pick it up and didn’t miss a beat,” said Justin.

On the surface, the time saved using telemedicine is obvious. Ten minutes. In contrast to many more minutes spent scheduling, waiting, driving, waiting, an actual visit with a doctor, more waiting, a diagnosis, driving to a pharmacy and then probably more waiting. But for millions of Americans, the savings aren’t just measured in time, they can be measured in dollars.

Dr. Jana Hill is a Doctor of Osteopathic said she likes to visit with patients through an app and works exclusively through telemedicine. “Because it does save time. It saves staff. It saves staff from our standpoint,” she said.

No travel, no gas, no hotel stay for out of town visits, but also no money at all depending on a patient’s provider.

“There are some companies that provide completely free virtual house calls, so it’s a zero cost some employers provides so that’s obviously huge savings versus a $50 copay to come to urgent care when you can get the same care over the computer,” said Dr. Hill.

“It’s still the same concept. You’re still listening to the patient and you’re still making a diagnosis based on what they’re telling you, which is most of medicine anyway. Most of what it is, is what they’re telling you versus what you find on exams. It’s not that different, you’re just doing it by phone or computer instead,” said Dr. Hill.

Doctor Hill’s patients have the option to consult with her by phone or over video through a simple app available on computers and smartphones. Because her clinic is set up for just his type of consultation, she says wait times are minimal, the number of patients she can see in a day is increased as are the comforts.

“During cold and flu season which will be starting anytime now, they’re not coming into the lobby being exposed to other people are ill and spreading it in the community because they can stay home and get the treatment they need,” said Dr. Hill.

“As simple as it was, there’s no reason for me to sit and wait and do all that time there when I knew the issues, they knew the issue and as quick as it was and simple as it was, I’d do it again,” said Justin.

Readmission rates and follow up care have decreased dramatically across the country. Patients with questions over how a wound looks or how the healing process is going can have them answered in minutes, no travel involved.

To put in to numbers, the Wall Street Journal purports telemedicine can save patients up to $115 per visit, with potential savings of more than $20,000 per medical facility.

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center says since implementing telemedicine in 2016, 140 patient transfers have been avoided from senior care facilities, treating 96 percent of patients from the facilities where they were housed, and saving roughly $400,000 by doing so in the last year alone.

“I love it. I think there’s a lot of advantages to it. There’s a lot of time savings. We’re seeing you much much quicker. Those visits last on average from start to finish less than five minutes versus an average visit with patients in the clinic would be somewhere around twenty,” said Dr. Hill.

Justin said “It was awesome. I would recommend it…sold…sold.”

Common colds, and respiratory infections are among the cases most commonly treated via telemedicine.

Below is a list of urgent issues commonly managed via telemedicine:

Allergies Arthritic pain Colds and flu Vomiting/fever infections Insect bites Rashes Skin inflammations Asthma Bronchitis Respiratory infections Pharyngitis Sprains & strains sports injuries Bladder infections UTIs