With health care on everyones minds, a new venture created by a group of practitioners, called "Hello Health," should be welcomed with open arms. This group has come up with a brilliant new platform for doctors to "see" their patients using a range of social media for cheap and still have the business remain profitable. Each of the doctors have their own Facebook account and share their detailed information for patients. Furthermore, the Brooklyn company has created a new conference technology, think Skype, to allow them to care for their patients virtually anywhere! If the patient wants to contact the doctor for something simple, they may do so by e-mail, for free! If the patient is feeling ill or would just like to conference the doctor, he or she only has to pay a nominal fee of $100 or $150 for an in person visit, which can be booked within a 24 time period. In order to gain these services, the patient must enroll into a monthly $35 payment program, which is not covered by insurance. But, that's the point, all of these services are provided extremely cheap considering the monthly program includes free labs and some generic medications. This will also fill in the cracks of current insurance programs. For example, if a patient is out of state and feels ill, typically the patient will have to pay "an arm and a leg" or not be covered at all to see a doctor. This technology will allow the patient to "see" the doctor virtually anywhere with a computer, internet access, and a camera for the same low price as if they were at their home town.
I am also an entrepreneur and foresee this new platform becoming the new standard for seeing patients in the future. I hope to see this model translated for the field of pharmacy and hopefully expand the role of the pharmacist. If you want to see the full article, and it is long, check it out here:http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/28/2/361.full
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