JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Online doctor consultations aren’t a new phenomenon – many businesses offer their employees the benefit of accessing medical care by phone, app or online.
But an emergency room doctor at Baptist Health in Jacksonville says a new service he and some colleagues are pioneering is adding some new features to the concept, features that will uniquely benefit patients on the First Coast.
“If you had a doctor that lived next door to you, how many of your fears could be calmed if you just had somebody to talk to,” began Dr. Matthew Thompson, director of Telescope Health, a service that began in 2019.
Telescope Health is an independent company comprised of emergency room doctors at Baptist. Thompson said that while the company shares some similarities with other telemedicine providers, it differs by being available inexpensively to anyone – even those without health insurance.
“The average cost of an emergency room visit is above $3,000 locally here,” he said, contrasting that with a $49 fee for patients to access live medical assistance face-to-face, albeit not in-person.
“Any person can log in and see an emergency physician like myself, or a physician who works in the emergency room, that they would see if they were to go to the E.R.,” Thompson explained, transitioning to another benefit he said is unique: the doctors who staff Telescope Health are all local to the Jacksonville area.
“We can give [patients] advice, educate them on their chronic medical conditions, and we can also prescribe them medications and help them with any follow-up needs that they have,” he said.
That feature, Thompson said, pointing out that many broader-based telemedicine providers put patients in touch with physicians at opposite ends of the country. That, he said, is helpful for a single instance, but not nearly as much for someone who needs follow-ups or referrals.
“I have a great knowledge of, if you do need to go to the emergency room, where to send you based on waiting times, based on how severe your condition sounds,” he said, noting that he and his colleagues are familiar to the doctors to whom they refer patients. “And I can even call those physicians that I work alongside of in the E.R. and let them know that you’re coming.”
And although there have been no reported cases of Coronavirus near the First Coast, Thompson asserted that online medical consultation can alleviate crowding in emergency rooms while simultaneously reducing the risk of spreading any illness.
“We don’t want to expose people who are immuno-compromised or have poor health, to coronavirus in the emergency department, if they don’t need to be exposed,” he said, adding that “when you call in to use this service [either online or via the Telescope Health app], you’re not competing with the patients in the E.R.”
However, as Dr. David Lesser – one of the physicians who staff Telescope Health - pointed out, Coronavirus concerns should be held in a proper perspective.
“A lot of people have had more concern about the flu virus, which is appropriate,” Lesser admonished, “since it’s still a greater risk to the general public than the Coronavirus.”
But regardless of particular pandemic concerns that come and go, Thompson emphasized the cost-effectiveness his company’s model can mean for some patients.
“Charges can be outrageous depending on how much work was done and what we had to do to rule out certain conditions,” he said. “We can determine right where they need to go, we can streamline the process, and we can also filter out people who can avoid those costs and don’t necessarily need them.”
Telescope Health is currently available only to patients in Florida. Dr. Thompson said there are plans to eventually expand the service to include Georgia.