Technology has transformed healthcare industry just as other industry niches. It has made numerous positive changes in treatment and patient care. Advancements in medical technology allow physicians to diagnose and treat patients much more efficiently than before. Technological innovations range from diverse methods of treatment offered to the patients to various types of software and techniques used in medical transcription service. With the convenience offered by technology in the form of telemedicine, online consultation and so on, patients are also expecting more innovative and affordable treatment options.
Now, medical services care can be taken to the patient’s side rather than the patient coming to a doctor or healthcare facility. In San Francisco, Camilla Ring got her blood pressure and heart rate checked by Dr. Anju Goel in her office itself. Ring’s appointment was booked through a Santa Monica start-up known as Heal. It provides doctors to offices so that nobody has to leave work to get examined. In the last two years Heal doctors have served employees at Hulu, GoPro, Twilio, AEG, etc. Heal doctors usually handle non-emergency cases and in case of emergencies they send patients to urgent care units. Around 40 percent of Heal’s house calls are done at large companies and according to co-founder and CEO Nick Desai, Heal doctors have consulted 70,000 patients and 65,000 used insurance to pay for the visit. The new start-up earns money from patients and insurance companies. Blue Shield of San Francisco has included Heal house calls in its preferred provider organization plans. The company provided their service to 11,000 Californians. Typically, house call options are expensive but Heal service is affordable and saves a lot of time.
Heal doctors works for around 40 hours a week. Medical assistants drive the doctors to the appointment and drop them off at their respective house at the end of the day. Dr. Goel says that this profession allows doctors a lot of time with patients without being distracted by other patients. According to Glenn Melnick, a health economist at the University of Southern California who led a recent study on a health system’s house call program in his region found that doctors could see only three or four patients and the doctors-on-demand model takes the burden of travelling from the patients and shifts it to the doctor.
Ring, a product specialist at Strava had used Heal twice before for home visits when she was ill, and she was impressed by the convenience of not having to leave the office for physician’s appointment. Ring’s appointment was covered by her insurance. Strava funds up to $2500 per employee for medical expenses or health care reimbursement account as per their health plan.
Heal offers minor services like flu shots at companies. Tech companies as well as other organizations are waking up to the advantages of having medical assistance provided at their doorstep.
Just as developments in medical treatment provided to patients, the traditional method of medical transcription has also evolved. Today, with EHR-integrated medical transcription service, physicians and other healthcare professionals can ensure more accurate patient care documentation. HL7 interface provides the framework for integrating, sharing and retrieval of EHR. It provides an encrypted and secure means of transferring files. By outsourcing medical transcription to meet their documentation requirements, physicians get to spend more time with their patients, listen to their concerns, and provide the most effective treatment.
