Insurance Companies Health Doctors Consider paying for online visits

Insurance Companies Health Doctors Consider paying for online visits -

Aetna and CIGNA, two of the largest health insurance companies of the nation, have decided that they will pay physicians to make appointments online with patients, reported Philadelphia Inquirer .

How medical appointments online work?

"e-consult" is more or less a short questionnaire for patients to describe their symptoms. Then a professional doctor or health can then communicate with patients through email or phone. If necessary , doctors can also ask the patient to come into their office.

apply to e-consults But doctors and patients expressed will not do the full job. Why? the patients are frequently misdiagnosed.

Dr. Janet Specter medical Group in Marple Commons guessed their patients get misdiagnosed approximately 80 percent of the time.

regarding the payment of doctors, an insurer might pay $ 25 e-consult and up to $ 100 for an office visit.

until now, the practice e-consult has not really taken. in California, many doctors are capable of meeting -you online, but only a small percentage actually uses the technology.

"Actual use of e-consults is just incredibly low," said Medem CEO Edward Fotsch. Medem offers about 70 000 doctors appointments online capabilities.

But still, some expect online doctors visits for more popular in the future.

"It's still pretty much in its infancy, although I think it will increase," said Jonah Frohlich, senior officer at the California HealthCare Foundation.

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