Startup looks to make doctor visits a click away - Boston Business Journal:

http://lestringdanslarray.com/app/2009/09/17/
He’s the founder and co-CEO of , a Boston-based startup that launchecd its debut product latelast month, combiningt secure e-mail with a Web camera. “Ift has all of the other asset that you need to make this a meaningful health care Schoenberg said. “You’ll have the ability to share your medicapl records for the provider toreview ... to suggest follow-ups and to writs prescriptions.” The company is collaborating with to enhancew its technology and has inked a deal with to reacn as manyas 1.3 million clientsd beginning in 2009.
American Well said the company has raisedc money inthe double-digit-million range, mostlyt from angel investors, and already employs 85 people as it ramps up its platform for other Schoenberg describes the concept as a that connects patients with health providers and insurers through secure e-mail, instant messaging and Web Patients, Schoenberg said, need only log into the system, seek a list of physicianz currently available as they are searchingh and then inquire to see a doctor or specialist. Patients also have the abilitt to engagedoctors quickly. Feedbaclk from physicians is generally generatedwithin minutes.
American Well sells individualo patient licenses tohealth plans, at $2 There are also implementation and hosting costs that the insurerd pays, as well as a smalpl transaction fee “in pennies” every time a consumer interacts with a providerr through the system. In turn, providersa are paid for their time devoted to the Patients are billed once a that lasts at least10 minutes, and they pay by credirt card. Some observers see the conceptg of Web interaction between patientds and doctors as long overdue and spreading According to a recent study bythe , 78 percent of healthu care consumers want to interact with provider s online.
“There is a need to try to innovate around delivery inthis way,” said Dr. Ronald F. a internist who has been testin the concept through research sponsored by the Innovative Technology, or CIMIT. Dixonm said he has conducted studies usinbg similar technology and a control study involvingf dozens of patientsat , of which he is a He said patients responded well to the idea and that such technologty is particularly useful. He said the approach has been used in psychiatryand dermatology. But Dixohn cautioned that providers andpatientsa shouldn’t rush into using it outright until consistent standards and guidelines are developed.
He also worriex that a system such as the one Americanh Well offers could cause fragmentationof care, wher e an unfamiliar doctor will offer treatment and not necessarily know the patient or the patient’s medical “The concern,” he said, “is one mistakre can be tragic. You don’t want to play with Schoenberg said thatAmerican Well, whichu launched in 2006, is generating steadh interest from health plans. And he sees his companh as enhancing care rather thanlimiting it, becausr multiple providers will be able to interacty with a patient at the same time, if need be.