So my new insurance plan offers an alternative to ER or urgent care visits: I’ll call it Dial-a-Doc. There’s a smartphone app you use to give a history, and a doctor calls you back with a diagnosis and (if needed) a prescription.
This strikes me as a wholly inadequate substitute for face-to-face diagnosis.
Am I just old fashioned?
What do they want you to do if you don’t have a smart phone?
Hitch up the horse and buggy and get to the real doc, I guess.
Totally inadequate, but what a cost savings for them vs. paying you to see an actual doctor! I feel the same way about my insurer’s 800 number that basically does the same thing.
Go to the doc. That’s why you’re paying the insurance company all that money every month.
I think it depends what the problem is. Last year I changed insurance, and I had a headache getting a new primary care doctor. I ended up going to one of those urgent care clinics to get a new prescription for my nasal allergy spray. When I finally saw the doc, I basically said I’ve been using this for several years, I’m very happy with it, but I can’t wait another month for this insurance thing to get figured out. He wrote me the scrip and then said, “Uh, well, as long as you’re here, I should do some doctor stuff.” He listened to my heart and lungs, peeked in my nose and ears, and told me I seemed very healthy.
A smartphone interaction with a doctor could have saved us both a lot of hassle.
It might depend on what you need care for. A thorough questionnaire, follow up phone call and then recommendation, might be all you need for a sinus infection. I believe some care systems, like Kaiser (from what my parents, who are members, tell me) use this now.
I would also believe that you’re gonna be kicked on over to live care where there’s a question that exposes them to liability. I have used nurse lines in the past and had that experience. Fever, check, take some advil, rest. The second the pain in my side was mentioned, although I had a history that easily explained it, they wanted me off to see a doc.
I could see it saving you a lot of time and trouble. I’d be willing to try it (and applying a commonsense filter to the results).
And what Ravenman said! 
Sounds awesome to me. If I’ve got something crazy going on, of course I want to see someone. But if I have a flu and need Tamiflu (or whatever), just give me the prescription and save me the hassle of dragging my sick butt to the doctor.
What he just did was up the visit from a “simple consultation” to a “moderate consultation” - a pure profit motive.
Go into a big city ER with real insurance - every doc in the place will find something to do. I had one resident demonstrate how to use an inhaler. I’m 65 - I know some things.
Another just stopped by to chat (simple consultation) as he was walking away, he seemed to have an Eureka! moment. He returned and listened to my chest (moderate consultation).
If this is a trend which gets to the point of the patient getting cleared to renew a script (non-controlled, obviously) without paying an MD, maybe.
But I’m not at all certain that it will lead to that.
You could very well be entirely right about this being an inadequate substitute for face-to-face doctoring, and also be an old-fashioned Luddite.
double luddite. my plan uses a tricorder.
urgent care and dial-a-nurse can help prevent expensive ER visits.
it will take time and wise use to develop affordable and efficient methods of nonemergency healthcare.
We have something similar here in the U.K. If you have a medical issue that is not an emergency you can dial 111 and you get to speak to a medical professional who will then help you or get another professional to call you back or say that actually that is an emergency and the ambulance is on its way. In my limited experience it works well and saves a lot of time and effort.
If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.
changed to
We will call you back.
An “old-fashioned luddite”? Isn’t that a lot like a “hot water heater”? What would be a “new-fashioned luddite”?
Misquote. He clearly said “tweet.”
What else do you think happens when you go to see the doctor in person?
I just saw an article on the hospital experience of the future.
No more physicians/residents/ancillary personnel tromping into your room and disturbing you with their consultations. Instead, one whole wall of your room will be a two-way video monitor. Specialists will be able to check you out remotely whenever they want without the nuisance of personal contact. And there will be no nurse call buttons - all your vital signs and video info will be available constantly to nursing staff and they’ll just know when you need something without your having to call for it. Signs of pain? Here, lemme just remotely boost your intravenous opioid. No need to shout.
Bricker should take advantage of that smartphone app. I’m sure he and other patients are excellent historians, and the remote doc(s) can easily tell the difference between inconsequential and serious infections, differentiate atypical MIs from other sources of chest discomfort and do all the serious doctorin’ that the old-fashioned types think you need to go hands-on for. And as long as the croakers write scrip and you get your drugs, who cares about that personal shit*?
[Sheldon]Sarcasm??[/Sheldon]
A croaker who writes scrip (prescriptions)* is a very important attribute as far as me and Mrs. J. are concerned. It may get a little hairy though when the smartphone app M.D. is the only choice we’re allowed, and not just an option. Should be good for shady alt med practitioners though, since they can tout themselves as the last hands-on caregivers.
**a phrase from William Burroughs’ book Junkie.
I think it’s a good triage function. There are a lot of relatively minor things that still need a doctor’s approval, like renewing a prescription. We have a similar service run by our local health region. It’s been very good in helping is decide whether the Cub should be taken to the clinic when he’s got an issue, or can just be kept at home until he feels better with OTC stuff.
Maybe. Personally, there are times when I know exactly what is wrong and I just want a script. Having dial-a-doc would be very convenient for me as getting in to see a doctor is going to take 2 hours out of my day at a minimum. From their point of view, it would be much more inexpensive to chat with me about my symptoms and history and issue the script over the phone.
Other times, where the diagnosis is not so clear cut, dial-a-doc would be a very inadequate substitution for a face to face interaction. It’s not an either/or alternative, right? You can still got to urgent care, but they just want to offer you an additional service, correct?