What is the best way to get in touch with a doctor? If you are like most people, you have to schedule an appointment, take time off from work, go to the physician's office, wait in the waiting room, then spend five minutes or less interacting with the doctor and repeating your sickness story that you have already told the nurse who initially asked why you were there in the first place. All in all, going to see the doctor for minor healthcare issues can be frustrating and time consuming as well as expensive.
What happens if you are out of town traveling on vacation or business and need to see a doctor for non-life threatening medical needs such as pink eye, the flu, or strep throat? Who knows where the closest physician is located and what the wait time is to get in for an appointment, assuming you can even get one as a walk in patient.
Not having access to a doctor during the overnight hours can often mean having to go to urgent care or the emergency room for care. That is scary enough and cost much more for that type of treatment. Naturally, if your are extremely ill and need to have immediate medical care, you should not hesitate to use one of those facilities.
However, for minor healthcare needs that require a simple consult with a licensed physician or the need for a prescription such as an antibiotic or other medication you need from the pharmacy, most of those situations can be readily handled through either a phone call or video chat via telemedicine.
According to the American Journal for Affordable Care, "Telemedicine aims to meet the needs of today’s healthcare consumers and has the capacity to revolutionize the delivery of healthcare. It supports efforts to significantly improve the quality of healthcare by increasing accessibility and efficiency through reducing the need to travel, providing clinical support, overcoming geographic barriers, offering various types of communication devices, and improving patient outcomes. Thus, given the current focus on efforts to contain costs, improve the delivery of care to all segments of the population, and meet consumer demand, telemedicine is an attractive tool to use for success in these areas."
From personal experience, telemedicine works. It is a highly effective tool to reduce costs, waiting times, and stress. Although not a panacea for all medical or healthcare needs, telemedicine can serve to assist you in situations when going to a physical location for care is not practical. Available around the clock and in many cases in an unlimited capacity for access, using telemedicine for minor health issues has proven to be extremely beneficial in most cases when used.
To learn more about telemedicine or to purchase a plan that provides telephonic access to a network of licensed physicians, visit this website: https://www.careingdentalgroup.com/extra-extra . Or, contact me to have a conversation about how you can benefit from using telemedicine for your family or your employees at your company.
