It’s 3 in the morning and your toddler has a fever of 103 degrees and won’t stop screaming.
Your only options at that point typically are to wait it out until the doctor’s office opens and hope you can get an appointment right away or go to the emergency room and face a huge bill that your insurance company might balk at covering if it turns out to be something routine.
More and more, however, there is a third option: a visit with a health practitioner over the phone or computer.
CHI Health is the latest health care provider to jump into the virtual care or “telehealth” arena.
The Nebraska-based hospital system introduced its Virtual Care system about two months ago but just started promoting it locally in the past couple of weeks, said Jami Blair, a spokeswoman for CHI St. Elizabeth.
Virtual Care is available throughout Nebraska. In Lincoln, there currently are 10 health care providers participating, and it is staffed 24 hours a day.
Patients can either call a toll-free number or go to the Virtual Care website to set up a consultation by phone or face-to-face using Skype, FaceTime or another virtual technology. They should get a response in 30 minutes or less.
Jeff Hartsell said he was contacted by a provider within five minutes after setting up an account.
Hartsell used the service Monday night for back pain that had been bothering him since the weekend.
He said he worked with a nurse practitioner over FaceTime who had him do some movements and stretches to determine when and where his pain occurred. Her diagnosis: probably a pulled muscle. She called in a prescription for a muscle relaxant and told him to see his regular doctor if things didn’t improve within a few days.
“It was pretty convenient to be able to do that from home,” Hartsell said.
Blair said the service helps patients save time and money by providing “the right level of care at the right time.”
A virtual visit costs $10 right now, which is an introductory rate. At some point, the cost will go up to $39.95, which is still less than half the average cost of a visit to a doctor’s office or urgent care center.
One potential drawback to the system is that those using it have to pay upfront with a credit card and then attempt to seek reimbursement from their insurer after the fact. The service also is not available to people covered under a federal insurance program, such as Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Medicaid or Tricare.
CHI Health’s major competitor in Lincoln, Bryan Health, introduced a similar telemedicine program in August called eVisit, although CHI Health says its Virtual Care is the only service in the state that allows face-to-face online correspondence.
Telemedicine is expected to grow as health providers and insurers look to lower their costs. Among its other uses are remote monitoring of patients both in hospitals and at home.
A recent report from Ernst & Young predicted spending on telemedicine would grow from $240 million in 2013 to $1.9 billion by 2018. Another report by IBISWorld predicts $3.5 billion in spending by 2020.
Date: October 18, 2015