Will Digital Solutions replace Office Visits?
- Catherine M. Zito, FHFM, CPA, CPC
- Mar 15, 2018
- 2 min read
A recent article published in hfm brings awareness to the impact that technology may have on healthcare providers. We all know that healthcare today is more consumer focused than ever. We can get access to our medical records through patient portals and we can even schedule our appointments online. We can read reviews on our providers using Healthgrades or Physician Compare. We can also research our local hospitals via Hospital Compare.
As Health Plans and Employer groups continue to offer high deductible plans and more millennials choose these plans, they will be interested in researching their options when receiving healthcare services. Price and convenience will be critical for millennials shopping for healthcare.
Machine learning and Big Data are beginning to influence healthcare. The promise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) could soon render a smartphone app that can potentially diagnose disease and prescribe a treatment plan.
As the article indicates, Health Plans will not be eager to pay a PMPM capitation to primary care providers when the patients may be receiving their care via an app or telemedicine visit that the Health Plan is providing. An example is the diabetic patient that receives a text on their smartphone telling them that their blood sugar is low and that insulin is being provided. The text did not come from their physician’s office, rather it came from a computer based on an algorithm that is triggered by an embedded glucose monitor. This technology is here and will change the way in which we receive care.
Health plans realize that it is in their best interest to avoid unnecessary office visits and invest in the technology that has the potential to treat patients without ever having to visit the office. How should providers prepare for this threat to controlling access to their patients? Here are some suggested provider tactics:
Improve patient access: timely appointments, convenience, after hours care
Be open to providing care via “digitally friendly” options
Consider partnering with a health plan to offer digital services
Vertically integrate to maximize efficiency
Change provide compensation models to align incentives with value based payment
hfm: the digital front door; why total cost of care risk is not inevitable P.Spencer, January 2018