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from the virtual-visits-get-virtual-medicine dept.
CVS dives deeper into medical services, offering virtual visits through Teladoc
CVS' MinuteClinics are going virtual. The drugstore chain plans to make video visits available nationwide by the end of the year through a partnership with Teladoc Health, CVS' latest pivot away from retail and toward health-care services. CVS already offers virtual appointments, branded as MinuteClinic Video Visits, in nine states and the District of Columbia.
MinuteClinics treat people with minor illness and injuries like coughs and rashes. These walk-in locations are a way to keep customers coming into CVS' stores as more shoppers buy everyday items on Amazon. Making it possible to visit a MinuteClinic without actually walking into one may hamper that, but it could help CVS reach more people.
With virtual visits, known in the industry as telehealth or telemedicine, CVS can reach people who may not be able to visit one of its roughly 1,100 locations. MinuteClinics are a key part of CVS' $69 billion acquisition of health insurer Aetna.
Also at USA Today.
Previously: CVS Attempting $66 Billion Acquisition of Health Insurer Aetna
Related: CVS Health Is Sued Over 'Clawbacks' of Prescription Drug Co-Pays
CVS Limits Opioid Prescriptions
Telemedicine Prescriptions Could Undermine State Abortion Restrictions
(Score: 5, Interesting) by requerdanos on Friday August 10 2018, @03:38PM
The Veteran's Administration has for years provided telehealth psychiatrist service in certain cases where a clinic doesn't have a psychiatrist, with limited access (only a few telehealth visits available on the psychiatrist's schecule). The "few visits" thing meant, a clinic staff member told me about 7 or 8 years ago, "nobody really gets an appointment that way; it's easier to drive to the hospital [hours away]."
This is getting more and more broadly implemented, though, after the pressure that the V.A. relatively recently endured when world+dog saw reports in the press (veterans dying on a waiting list to just get an appointment, etc.) that the V.A. suck factor is very, very high. More and more, telehealth appointments are available (and it's not limited to psychiatry).
By telehealth [va.gov], I mean that about five minutes before appointment time, the V.A. emails the patient a link to a video chatroom, and the patient, from the comfort of his or her home, sees the specialist conveniently; any medication prescriptions are submitted electronically to a V.A. pharmacy and filled by mail or courier such as UPS or FedEx. (They are even in some cases mailing out blood pressure cuffs, medical scales, glucometers, thermometers, and/or pulse oximeters to patients' homes.)
I accepted this method for a specialist that I would otherwise need to drive to a V.A. hospital two hours away to see, recently, with much skepticism. My questions were more about technical details than anything, as I suppose would be the case with many here.
When the link came, I tried to open it in Waterfox under Debian--no dice. Then Chromium (no pepperflash-nonfree, just free software)--success. For a follow-up visit I tried Yandex Browser--success.
I asked the Dr. what the V.A. does in the case of a patient with no webcam, and he said that the V.A. mails out a tablet PC capable of video chat for the visits. He told me that for privacy reasons, conversations are encrypted and go through only V.A. servers and not an outside provider. He took special care in explaining that "Skype" and "Facetime" were not involved (apparently common misconceptions).
So that's my happy experience with telehealth becoming more and more popular.
Now CVS is going all-in, and even our local hospital is spending money on local billboards [freworld.info] trumpeting "Video Visits and E-Visits [novanthealth.org]", so maybe this will actually develop into being a helpful, health-improving, cost-reducing use of technology--it would be good to use technology widely for something other than scrolling through instasnap and facetwit while driving.