Telemedical Care:
What Patients Think
B y N a n cy Ro w e o n
March 26, 2015
I
was vacationing in a tiny, remote
mountain town on the east coast last
summer when I became ill. It was a
Sunday evening and the local urgent care
center didn’t open until the next morning.
I didn’t want to wait 15 hours for urgent
care, and I didn’t want to be driven to the
regional ER, where I might have to wait
a long time to be seen—and might be
exposed to something contagious while in
the waiting room.
Luckily, I had recently heard about one of
the companies that provides urgent care
visits via telemedicine. So I took out my
iPad, loaded the app, and called in.
I was able to choose from a list of doctors;
I agreed to pay the fee (about what my
urgent care copay would have been, and
certainly less than an ER visit would have
cost); I entered my credit card info; and
within a few minutes I was talking to the
doctor I chose—all from my bed! The doc
called in a prescription to the pharmacy I
selected and I was feeling fine very shortly.
A Visit to the ER vs. Telemedicine
My experience jives with a recent survey
conducted by medical technology reviewer
Software AdviceTM, which found that
only 16 percent of patients would prefer
to seek care for a minor ailment at an
emergency room if they also had access to
telemedical services. The survey also found
that, among patients who have not used a
telemedicine service, 75% express interest
in using one in lieu of an in-person medical
visit.
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Kathleen Irwin, a market research associate
at Software Advice, says that, as of January
2015, patients spend an average of 133
minutes in the ER. Take that two-plus
hours and add in the transport time to and
from, and compare it to the approximately
10 minutes my virtual doctor visit took
from start to finish.
Why Patients Choose Telemedicine
My experience is not unique: Patients in
the survey who had used telemedicine,
when asked to cite positive aspects of
their most recent virtual appointment,
cited “don’t have to travel” (21%), “comfort
of home” (20%), “quick access to care”
(11%), “shorter wait time” (10%), and
“avoid waiting room” (8%) as among the
top benefits. Interestingly, 21% also cited
“high quality of care” as one of the benefits
they experienced.
When I used the telemedicine service, I
wasn’t expecting particularly high quality
medical advice, but I knew what was
wrong with me and what prescription was
needed, so I didn’t mind experimenting.
My experience was so positive, though,
that I used the same vendor again—this
time from home—in order to avoid a l ۙ