Healthcare Matters

Hospital executives need to keep their ear’s on. Whether you call it “share care,” “virtual care,” “telecare,” “telemedicine,” “on demand care,” etc., it’s coming –and for all the right reasons. To wit: Norfolk-based Sentara Healthcare and MDLIVE announced today a first of its kind partnership that will deliver secure real-time medical consultations to patients via telephone and online video throughout the state of Virginia. The deal is not only exemplary of the latest trajectory in US care delivery, but it also gives Sentara an equity stake in the privately held Sunrise, Fla.-based telehealth firm.

• MDLIVE is a national network of board certified physicians and licensed therapists who provide quality care through the convenience of phone or online video consultations. MDLIVE physicians can diagnose, treat, and write prescriptions for routine, medical conditions. Its service is available anytime, 24/7/365 by phone, video or e-mail from practically anywhere –and the service costs significantly less than urgent care and emergency room visits.

The platform provides a timely solution, allowing Sentara to quickly scale its care delivery capacity so that it can accommodate the more than 1 million uninsured Virginia residents set to gain access by 2014 under the Affordable Care Act. While the MDLIVE service is currently available to consumers through MDLIVE.com, the new Sentara option will launch to consumers in Virginia beginning in October. Sentara employees and members of selected Optima Health commercial insurance plans will also receive this service as an additional benefit over the course of 2013. A preview of what’s to come with Sentara MDLIVE is available at http://www.mdlive.com/sentara.

“Healthcare is changing due to a variety of factors, including advances in digital technology, physician shortages, increased access to insurance and high deductible plans, decreased reimbursement and patient population management needs,” Sentara CEO David Bernd said. “This collaboration expands access to care to hundreds of thousands of residents in our core and neighboring markets as well as offers them an alternate delivery option,” Bernd said. “And with an equity stake in MDLIVE, we become not just another client, but rather a partner focused on paving the way for future advances in virtual healthcare delivery.”

Patients will be able to use the MDLIVE virtual consult platform to consult directly with a licensed Sentara or partner physician who will diagnose low-acuity illnesses such as allergies or a urinary tract infection and provide care as appropriate, including prescriptions. Patients with more serious conditions will be directed to the nearest immediate care facility as appropriate. Should a prescription be necessary, MDLIVE’s connection to over 60,000 pharmacies enables them to send a prescription electronically to the pharmacy of choice.

“The marriage of MDLIVE’s state-of-the-art virtual consult platform with high quality care provided by Sentara Healthcare’s established regional network of physicians, hospitals and other facilities is unprecedented in its scope and reach,” MDLIVE CEO Randy Parker said. “Our partnership with Sentara empowers us to create a model for the future of virtual access to healthcare systems across the country.”

John Sculley, an MDLIVE board member and the former CEO of Apple, described the agreement as a giant leap forward in the technology-driven evolution of medicine. “We are at a transformational moment in healthcare driven by the demand for quality care and access and the capabilities of new technologies,” Sculley said. “The partnership between MDLIVE and Sentara Healthcare sets the stage for expanding access to new modes of healthcare delivery that can benefit patients, the healthcare industry and the nation.”

Timing is everything. Supportive and ongoing changes to reimbursement policy is obviously critical, but don’t sell short the idea that the tipping point for these kinds of services is upon us. Like others (lots of others), Sentara needed a plan –some way to scale its patient capacity. What it got was a go forward strategy, a war chest of new ideas and a piece of the action. A nice move that we should see replicated between other integrated systems (IDNs, ISNs) and the emerging telehealth solution providers.

Source: PRNewswire

—Tom Finn