Doctors on Call: How New Technology is Bringing Back Old Traditions

​Though “doctor on call” may conjure images of a black medical bag and a knock on your door, today’s on-call doctor can mean something entirely different. Provider services are shifting from waiting for patients to arrive for care within a clinic and expanding to serve people beyond medical facilities. In an age of advancing technology, more and more patients are demanding personalized services from the comfort of their own home or on their own schedule. Choosing a provider is also more selective and personal as patient access expands. In an attempt to address a healthcare system that doesn't always serve everyone equally well, some providers are trying to bridge the gaps by offering their services via traditional house-calls and telehealth communications.

This article will focus on two on-call home services--Heal and DispatchHealth--and three on-call telehealth services--MAVEN Project, MyTelemedicine and Teladoc.

Doctor On Call Services

On-call home health provider services are great for the individuals needing medical attention who are limited in mobility, but who are also looking for convenience and comfort. Most everyone has had the miserable experience of waiting in an after-hours on-call clinic or emergency room. After an incredibly long wait, it feels as if you many leave sicker than when you arrived. A couple of online services are now providing on-call home medical visits for those who need the help (and who also don’t necessarily need to leave home). Access is not nationwide, so check to see if the service is available in your city.

• Heal: Available for an appointment from 8:00a.m.—8:00p.m. (Monday – Friday) 365 days a year, is Heal. Unlike with many medical services, Heal is transparent about price -- costs are calculated before booking is complete and most insurance companies are accepted. This service also allows you to select a preferred doctor and boasts a house call that is 400% longer than the average doctor’s visit.
• DispatchHealth: After requesting care via their app, online or a phone call, DispatchHealth will send a board-certified medical team member to your house. The company responded to nearly 8,000 care requests last month and can treat anything that an urgent care facility can. As a bonus they have figured out how to partner with major insurance companies to cover the on call service.

There also remain a number of traditional on-call services offered by selected providers in certain cities. New York maintains a decent network of physicians able to make house calls, as do other major metropolitan areas, but the cost and logistical challenges of providing these services means that coverage is still inconsistent. Fortunately, there are other options.

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On Call Teleservices

For individuals that still require services, but live too remote for house visits, telehealth services are becoming increasingly popular. In fact, telehealth services are providing healthcare access to millions of patients nationwide. Yes, millions!
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• MAVEN Project: The MAVEN Project understands that not all patients are treated equally in terms of economics, access, and availability of healthcare services. They are attempting to serve all rural and inner-city patients that are not able to access the healthcare they deserve.  MAVEN physicians are volunteers that focus on the uninsured, the working poor, and children living below the poverty line. Telehealth technology allows doctors to treat these marginalized populations in a way that wasn’t possible in the past.
  
  
• MyTelemedicine: Promising care, one patient at a time, MyTelemedicine believes that online and phone conferencing is the only way to fix the healthcare crisis. More and more, patients are experiencing greater difficulty in receiving basic care and are forced to either go without treatment or go to expensive urgent care or hospitals to have their needs met. 
  
  
• Teladoc: Teladoc services over 20 million members and has over 3,100 licensed healthcare professionals on staff—allowing it to keep true on its promise to respond in minutes to a web, phone, or mobile requests. It also boasts a 95% customer satisfaction rate. 

The Future of On-Call Technology

​Though emergency room and clinic visits are always going to be important, there are a lot of ailments and concerns that can be addressed with on-call visits and telehealth services. Not only can these innovations reduce the cost of treatment, they can help doctors reach underserved populations and save time and energy on both ends.

If waiting in a germ-infested emergency room sounds like something you would rather not do, try out an online, on-call doctor (either to chat or to come to your desired destination). You may be surprised how convenient, cost-effective, and worthwhile the experience will be.

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About the Author

Carevoyance contributor Sarah Pike, M.B.A., is a freelance marketing copywriter based in San Diego. She enjoys writing about business, fashion, food, healthcare, leadership, motivation and technology.