Clearwater Now Has Virtual Doctors
A Clearwater company now has a futuristic way of visiting the doctor and I don’t know how I feel about it.
OnMed created a station that allows you to see a doctor virtually, get a diagnosis and even a prescription all within one visit that typically takes about 15 minutes.
Call me old school but if I have to visit the doctor, I’d rather meet them face-to-face.
Experts in the industry say you can do a lot inside one of these small OnMed stations to help eliminate wasted time at a doctors office or in line to get a prescription. They also say it can be a lot cheaper.
Ok, ok. I can maybe get behind this…
“Temperature, your weight, your height,” said Dr. Kristi Henderson, the President of the American Telemedicine Association. “When you go to an urgent care clinic it can cost you still $100-$150 to go see a doctor and get that care. You can do that through telemedicine for sometimes 1/3 to 1/5 of that cost.”
According to ABC Action News, when you’re seen by a virtual doctor. You use the tools inside the station to help the doctor examine you. It’s cleaned by ultraviolet light and locked down and cleaned by staff if an accident occurs.
Let me get this straight, I help the doctor do their job? That is a turn off for me…
This is not good for a primary care physicians office, urgent care and the ER but maybe good for airports, school campuses and businesses and areas where folks who may not have good access.
The first one of these stations will go in rural Mississippi later this year and the company hopes to install more through the Tampa Bay area very soon.
Clearwater Mayor, George Cretekos is excited about the company coming to Clearwater.
It looks cool but not for me, just yet.
[Source: ABC ACTION NEWS]
