MeMD News •
Industry News •
2 min read •
May 3, 2012 12:00:00 AM •
Written by: Kat Smith
Tired of being sick, but even more tired of waiting around to see a doctor? If this sounds like you, then you might want to check why so many Valley people are turning to the web for their one-on-one appointment.
“Normally, you can’t get a good appointment with your doctor,” Janice Wyss said. “You can’t get in immediately.”
Wyss knows going to the doctor isn’t easy anymore so now she relies on the Internet to meet her medical needs.
“I kind of heard about the MeMD thing and I thought it was a little unusual that you would see a doctor online, but I got sick and I didn’t have time to leave work,” Wyss said.
Instead of waiting in a doctor’s office or an urgent care, Wyss is logging on to MeMD. She can get an online consultation at home or work from board-certified medical providers. Those providers treat everything from flu symptoms to allergies.
“There is an icon, a little yellow line that sits on the screen and that’s telling you you’re in the ‘waiting room,'” Wyss said. “The doctor will call you and once you get a phone call, you go back to the computer and the doctor will appear on the screen.”
Dr. John Shufeldt is the founder of MeMD.
“Right now we’re in about 30 states across the country with about 250 providers,” Shufeldt said. “It’s low cost. People can do it when they need it and providers are waiting for them as opposed to them waiting for providers.”
Shufeldt said the cost per visit is less than $40. Patients can even get an E-prescription, which does not include any substances regulated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.
“If people use this appropriately, we really reduce the amount of unnecessary emergency department visits and unnecessary in-person urgent-care visits,” Shufeldt said.
Now if a medical condition needs more evaluation, patients can go to one of the urgent-care providers working with MeMD or their own family physician.
As for Wyss, logging on makes her feel more secure, especially when the future of healthcare in this country is unknown.
“It’s cheaper,” Wyss said. “You’re more efficient and there are no long wait times.”
Another benefit of MeMD that Wyss likes is that her employer will pick up some of the cost of her online visit.
