The doctor is in....Online. Visa Card # please.

I ran across this NBC video from Clinical Cases and Images.

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I'm quite irritated by the physician who says, "Oh, I'd never use this not ever because golly, I'm just not sitting by my computer all day long." Oh really? Wow, I sure am. I'm using an electronic health record, which for better or worse keeps me not just sitting, but CHAINED to a computer ALL DAY LONG. I guess she's still a lucky Luddite who doesn't have to fuss with inputting orders electronically or using 50 clicks just to get an E&M code.

Has she ever handled a patient matter over the phone? Does she really make women who've had bladder infections before come in to the office EVERY TIME? Does she make every woman with a yeast infection from antibiotics come in EVERY TIME? I suspect she probably has, and that's the kind of thing being handled over the internet. Get used to it, baby! It's the way of the world.

Now, I haven't used RelayHealth, but it seems as though it be a way to get all that pesky phone-tag kinda things in one place, easily documented and thanks very much, billed.

That said, however, if you need to be seen by your doctor, you need to be seen. My standard analogy is this: Try to describe the smile on the Mona Lisa via an email or phone message. You could go on and on and on and I won't have any idea what you're talking about. BUT, let me see the painting itself for a few seconds and I have a very good idea. Any half decent physician can tell from the door whether or not you're sick; that's impossible nearly over the phone. It's way impossible using a checklist on email.