Where Electronic Medical Records Work Like a Charm
As previously reported here, here, here and here. EMRs work best when they are essential to the services doctors offer. That is, when they help providers do their jobs. A personal and portable EMR is essential, for example, for online or telephone consultations with a whole network of doctors. Here are three cases:
- In January, American Well Inc. went live with a Web service that allows patients to communicate with doctors via online video, text chat or phone….. The service is currently available only in Hawaii….. where insured [Blue Cross] patients pay $10 for a 10-minute visit; uninsured or non-member patients pay $45 for a 10-minute consultation.
- A similar service, SwiftMD Inc., launched in November and is now available in New York and New Jersey.
- TelaDoc Inc. [which operates nationwide,] has a similar service that allows anyone to go online or pick up the phone and schedule phone consultations with physicians.
The big problem: state licensing laws that prevent a physician licensed in one state from "practicing medicine" in another state. More.
Fascinating. The problem, obviously, is not with EMRs. It is with third party payment.
John, as you and your colleagues have pointed out before (NCPA study?), EMRs are ubiquitous wherever third party payment isn’t. Walk-in clinics, concierge doctors, medical tourist hospitals, etc.
So how do we get rid of the licensing laws?