Another New Spin on Convenient Care
Startup companies are taking the idea of convenient care one step further via smartphone apps.
A
online reported on startup companies that are taking the idea of convenient care one step further than retail clinics via smartphone apps. Startup companies such as
in Minnesota,
in New York and San Francisco, and
in Los Angeles are offering greater access to care by providing virtual and in-person house calls at a lower cost than traditional primary care visits.
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It is still too early to predict whether consumers will forgo in-office visits altogether for these newer options, and the article goes on to state that conventional care providers urge consumers to be wary of home visits since, as Alan Ayers from the Urgent Care Association of America stated, "There is really no control over the [cleanliness of the] clinical environment."
Still, John Militello, management professor at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, Minnesota, sees promise in the new primary care model. As people pay higher and higher deductibles, they will demand more convenience for their money, he says. Telehealth just may be the way to solve this problem.
