When you or one of your kids gets sick, it can mean hours making appointments and sitting in a waiting room, but now technology is putting that doctor's visit in the palm of your hand.
Telemedicine involves a health care provider delivering medical care to patients who are physically located elsewhere. With the use of technology that allows the provider to communicate with and see and hear the patients in "real" time.
The nation's largest telemedicine company, Teladoc, is located in Lewisville and uses telephone and videoconferencing technology to provide on-demand remote medical care via mobile devices, the internet, video and phone.
"Teladoc provides access to care for millions across the country. We do that by connecting patients and physicians who are not in the same place. We do it 24/7/365 days. Last year we did about 575,000 remote telehealth visits between a patient and the physician. This year, we guess-timated we will do somewhere in the neighborhood of 900,000 of those," said Teladoc CEO Jason Gorevic.
NBC 5 toured the call center for an inside look at the operation behind telehealth.
Call center employees receive the calls from patients and connect them to a physician who's licensed in the patient's state.
Many times, the doctors are practicing physicians who pick up consultations during their free time, even in between office appointments. Some doctors are retired but choose telemedicine for extra income.
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Many of the calls from patients are for medical conditions for which they would typically seek care at urgent care facilities or emergency rooms.
"Seventy percent of people who end up in the ER don't really need to be there," Gorevic said.
"Traditionally, when people get sick, they say, 'I'm sick, I need to go to the doctor.' We are changing that to, 'I'm sick. What's the best way for me to get care?'" added Gorevic.
LeAndra Harris, an employee at The Container Store in Coppell, started using Teladoc when her employer added it to their health care benefits.
She said she enjoys the convenience it provides as a busy mother of three.
"Having to get them to the doctor, that's definitely time off from work," said Harris.
"Not everything is going to be handled over the phone, but it's really nice having that option to be able to call," she said.
Texas has some of the most detailed regulations on telemedicine in the country, and as a result, the Texas Medical Board is the defendant in a lawsuit filed by Teladoc.
The regulations include rules that prohibit doctors from providing video consultations with patients whom they've never treated in person, or patients who are not in a medical environment during the video consultation.
Due to the ongoing legal case, the Texas Medical Board respectfully declined NBC 5's request for an interview, but referred us to the current rules, listed on the Texas Medical Board's website.
Gorevic said Teladoc services aren't meant to replace the patient's relationship with his or her primary care physician. Rather, services are meant to supplement it.
Consumers provide a detailed health history, plus a description and pictures that can aid the doctor in making a diagnosis remotely.
"It improves access to care, reduces cost and can do be done in an incredible high quality way. Unfortunately the Texas Medical Board has taken a different view," said Gorevic.
