On Jan. 15, the Hawaii Medical Service Association will make available to all state residents an online physician consultation service, the New York Times reports.
The Web-based service from Boston-based American Well Systems will target uninsured residents and individuals who do not want to wait for an appointment or spend time traveling to a clinic, Roy Schoenberg, co-founder and CEO of American Well, said.
How It Works
Patients can access the American Well service through participating health plans' Web sites.
The system allows physicians to conduct online appointments, file prescriptions and view patients' medical histories.
American Well is working with HealthVault, Microsoft's electronic health record service, and ActiveHealth Management, an Aetna subsidiary that scans patients' medical histories for gaps in their previous care and notifies doctors during their American Well appointment.
Cost
The online physician service will cost HMSA members $10 for a 10-minute visit and uninsured residents $45 per visit. The Web-based doctor visit can be extended for an additional fee (Cain Miller, New York Times, 1/6).
Doctors will receive $25 for each 10-minute visit during office hours and $30 for after-hours consultations (iHealthBeat, 12/4/08).
Health plans pay American Well a license fee per member and a transaction fee of about $2 per online visit with a physician.
Expansion of Program?
Schoenberg said that the online service has received interest from federal policymakers who want to expand health care access. He added that insurers in other states soon will offer the service.
Reaction
Mike Stollar, vice president of marketing for HMSA, said Hawaii is well-suited for online physician visits because the remote islands make access to care challenging and the state has difficulty recruiting doctors to rural areas.
However, some critics of the program worry that physicians will miss important symptoms during remote visits and question whether uninsured residents have the broadband connection and Webcams necessary to use the service (New York Times, 1/6).