Telemedicine has become a growth industry worth tens of billions of dollars. By 2025 the market for virtual doctors is expected to exceed $130 billion, reports the Association of Mature American Citizens [AMAC].
The numbers of remote doctor-patient visits have been increasing at extraordinarily high rates over the past several years. A Journal of the American Medical Association [JAMA] study showed that between 2015 and 2017 phone-based virtual doctor visits increased by some 262% annually.
Older patients require more care, and with the current model of care delivery, the costs may be expected to rise, although higher cost is unsustainable. For this reason, a new pattern of practice is needed. Telemedicine will be presented as a highly effective and necessary tool in geriatrics.”
However, AMAC warns that “there is a dark side” to the evolution of telemedicine. The technology has already enabled fraudsters using telemedicine scams. Last spring, the FBI busted an international ring allegedly responsible for one of the biggest Medicare scams in U.S. history. The ring of 24 individuals, including three medical professionals, conned Medicare out of more than a billion dollars using fake telehealth scams.
Be aware that legitimate telehealth doctors work in concert with your personal physicians. Consider it a red flag if the telehealth doctor tells you that’s not necessary. It is a sure sign that the site is not legit if the online doctor offers to write a prescription. Real physicians do not write scripts without physically meeting a patient.”
~ Article courtesy of John Grimaldi with AMAC.