Friday, September 09, 2011

Housecalls, Shmousecalls...

We've chronicled the accelerating shortage of physicians, which is destined to become worse as ObamaCare© reaches its full stride. In the meantime, though, what are folks to do when they fall ill?

There's an app for that:

"Telehealth, or telemedicine as it was previously known, enables patients and doctors to connect anytime anywhere online or via mobile phone."

This is also a major boon for folks who live in the hinterlands who find themselves in need of a specialist.

"Telemedicine" per se isn't all that new, but until recently it's been well under the radar. As our health care delivery model changes to reflect the "new normal," it's expected that we'll see even more of this. And that's not necessarily a "bad thing:" there are certainly circumstances where an actual, in-person office visit really isn't necessary.

One area that has yet to catch up is, of course, health insurance: most plans cover "office visits" in one way or another, but I don't recall seeing the term "virtual" in any policy language thus far.

Maybe some day...
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