Your doctor...on "Web call"
My doctor last year got very unhappy with me since I wanted to simply talk to him on the phone rather than come in for yet another visit -- he gave me a short lecture about how he needed to earn a living. I responded that he should go ahead and charge me as I'd come to visit him but let me have feedback on the phone.
Nope, that wasn't possible. With two-thirds of the US having access to the Internet, it was only a matter of time before doctors started using email and/or the Web to give medical advice to their patients so I was delighted to see this news in a Wall Street Journal story (subscription required). Of course, the reason for this change is not because it would make things more convenient for the patients...it is because it would save the health insurance companies millions if not billions eventually.
Last month, Blue Shield of California became the first major U.S. health insurer to agree to cover online consultations between patients and their physicians, paying doctors $20 for a "Web call." The decision by California's third-largest health insurer could spark similar policy changes at other health plans during the next decade. The option is already under study at Cigna Corp., Health Net Inc., First Health Group Corp., Pacificare Health Systems Inc. and ConnectiCare.
...If patients could communicate with doctors over the Internet, more than 20% of all in-office visits could be eliminated, according to HealthCast 2010, a 1999 survey of health-care executives by PricewaterhouseCoopers. As a result, physicians would have more time for patients with serious medical concerns and employees would take less time away from work. Also, health plans could cut costs -- potentially several million dollars a month -- by paying $20 to $25 for a Web call compared with $50 to $70 for a doctor's visit.