Doctors treating patients online is a trend that is gaining momentum as a way to enhance the convenience of the physician-patient relationship, expand access to healthcare, and lower healthcare cost. Online consultations or e-visits – through email, live online visits using web-based video or phone, and/or online portals – are most commonly used to treat patients for non-emergency conditions and to answer questions about minor issues, symptoms and medications.

According to a 2009 Manhattan Research study, an estimated 80 million consumers reported they were interested in having online visits with their physicians. Face-to-face visits are often inconvenient and expensive for patients. With 24/7 online care patients can avoid leaving work or home, and hours spent in physician waiting rooms. Some supporters believe online visits may be a useful tool for patients living in rural areas, where medical care may be far away.

But despite the growing demand from consumers for digital access to their providers, most physicians are slow to adopt technology used to provide online consultations, primarily because they are not paid to do so. In fact, last year, less than five percent of doctors communicating online with their patients were being reimbursed.

The recently enacted health reform legislation hopes to change that with its initiative to find options to pay for telemedicine and other various types of technology for patients to stay connected with their providers. Currently, 12 states have laws requiring health plans to pay for telemedicine services, including e-visits. Though most insurers do not pay doctors for online consultations, some well-known health plans have already begun to do so, including Cigna, Aetna, some Blue Shield plans, WellPoint and Humana.

In fact a number of companies are jumping on the band wagon to help health plans provide e-visit capabilities. For example, Office Ally recently launched a new Internet portal that lets health plan members (whose insurer has signed up with Office Ally) arrange online “e-visit” consultations with physicians, view lab results and immunization records, order prescription refills, get appointment reminders, and more. The secure portal, called Patient Ally, provides convenience for patients and helps physicians improve efficiencies.

Still, there are skeptics who are concerned that doctors may miss something important if they don’t see a patient face-to-face. Countering that argument, proponents can point to a study published in the April 2010 issue of Archives of Dermatology that found patients who participated in e-visits with their dermatologists experienced similar reductions in inflammatory lesions (acne) as those who had office visits.

Another concern about security for the privacy of medical information, which could be compromised if physicians and patients communicate through personal email accounts that are not secure. Therefore, insurers are requiring online consultations to take place through secure “virtual portals.” An example of a virtual portal is the 24/7 online clinic launched in January 2009 by Hawaii Medical Service Association (HMSA), a Blue Cross affiliate.

In the HMSA online program, registered patients can log on to the virtual clinic, choose an available physician and then engage in a 10-minute online visit using email, instant messaging and, if available, webcam. Members of the health plan pay $10 and nonmembers pay $45 for each 10-minute online visit. Physicians who are part of the network are pre-enrolled in the online program and have access to each patient’s medical records while they answer patient’s questions regarding colds, flues and other minor issues.

As other health plans begin to roll out similar virtual clinics this year, do you think there’s a possibility that this will become a national norm over the next few years? How will it impact healthcare? Will moving the physician-patient relationship online improve access? Will this help offset unnecessary doctor visits and ER visits?

Like what you’ve read? Follow Scott Public Relations on Twitter and sign up for the Einsight RSS feed!