Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Changing the Way you Visit the Dr...Healthcare of the Future

When you think of your annual physical that you have every year with your primary care physician, you think of calling to make an appointment, going to the doctor's office, awkwardly sitting on that paper-covered exam table in order to see your physician.  Now, with the usage of Health IT, you can visit your doctor via your iPhone of iPad.  This usage of health IT changes the way that care is being delivered and not only is of more convenience for the patients but also can increase the productivity of the physician and the physician's office.  With any technological implementation, there is always a high initial start-up costs to implement such technology, but in the long run, there is a significant costs savings and (hopefully) an improvement on the quality and efficiency of care being provided.
This change in care delivery has already been implemented in Ford Hospital
(http://mhealthinsight.com/2012/04/12/surgeons-at-the-henry-ford-hospital-now-using-facetime-to-provide-post-op-consultations/) and has demonstrated beneficial outcomes through its patient satisfaction on the care that they are receiving.
Although these virtual visits will not completely replace the face-to-face interaction that you would get from a physician, especially when a specific treatment is required, it expedites many routine intake and general consultations performed by physicians.  There are still obstacles of confidentiality and physician reimbursement issues that are tagged along with this technology, but as the increase of health IT usage continues to grow, providers, insurers, and patients will learn to adapt to this new system and the policies will be more clearly defined.
In healthcare, it is all about the patient at the core.  The quality of care and the outcomes of healthcare is the main concern of patients.  As a patient, how would you feel about having a doctor's visits via your iPhone?  Do you think that would affect the quality of care that you receive positively, negatively?

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for taking the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about it and love learning more on this topic.

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