Digital physician visits are slowly gaining traction in Florida, the Jacksonville Business Journal reports.
Five years ago, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida became the first insurer in the state to begin covering electronic physician visits. About 1,000 health care providers have signed up for BCBS' service, and more than 600,000 patients have enrolled in the program.
Several other health insurers, including Aetna and CIGNA, also have begun covering electronic doctor visits.
BCBS officials say they believe that e-visits could help reduce overall health care costs.
Barriers
Despite the recent spike in adoption, some physicians remain reluctant to embrace e-visits.
Adoption barriers include concerns about malpractice liability, disruptions to workflow and limitations to what types of ailments can be treated via the Internet.
In addition, the HIPAA medical privacy rule prohibits physicians from using common Web-conferencing software to communicate with patients or transmit information. Therefore, doctors must go through a health plan or other provider that has software that meets the HIPAA security requirements (Morrison, Jacksonville Business Journal, 7/17).