BC Business
Speak directly to a healthcare provider and get a prescription filled without having to leave your home
It’s 2:30 a.m. and your child wakes up with a fever. You spend a sleepless night making sure your child’s temperature doesn’t spike. The next morning you rush to your doctor’s office.
We all know what happens next. You arrive, only to wait with a room full of other sick people. After anywhere from five minutes to an hour, you are ushered into the exam room, where you typically wait a little longer for the doctor to come in. Then, armed with a prescription and a sick child, you head to the pharmacy, to wait yet again, for the prescription to be filled.
Thanks to technology, you can now take care of your sick child in a secure virtual portal, at any hour of the day, without having to leave your home. GOeVisit, a Canadian company, recently launched the first telemedicine program that delivers virtual medical consultations, prescriptions and an online pharmacy to patients coast-to-coast, 24/7, 365 days a year.
GOeVisit offers Canadians telemedicine access to trained medical professionals quickly and securely wherever they live, work or travel. Using a computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone, patients speak directly to a health practitioner via face-to-face technology or by phone, to obtain a diagnosis and treatment for some 30+ non-emergency conditions. If a prescription is required, it can be sent to a patient’s pharmacy of choice, or can be filled by GOeVisit’s online pharmacy, and delivered for free within one business day, anywhere in Canada.
“Patients can get the care they need quickly from our trained medical professionals any time, from anywhere, which is an innovative, convenient way to access healthcare . At the end of the session, a record of their virtual visit is sent to their family doctor, if that information has been provided,” says Liz Bryant, Chief Operating Officer of GOeVisit. “Every patient’s private medical information is securely stored in a private cloud that is HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) compliant.
GOeVisit offers peace of mind knowing that, with its virtual service, there is a medical professional available at the push of a button to give advice, diagnosis and treatment when a child is sick. Or, when a busy executive is on a business trip with a painful sinus infection and needs immediate medication.
GOeVisit is more convenient to individuals who are seeking care after hours or, for whatever reason, cannot easily go to a doctor’s office.
Not surprisingly, the main appeal of telemedicine is its potential to save money and streamline healthcare access. For corporations, GOeVisit can parlay into huge cost-saving benefits.
“Twenty-one per cent of a corporation’s employee benefit plan is spent on prescription drug costs of over $10 billion annually,” says Bryant. “GOeVisit can reduce prescription frequency by as much as 67 per cent, reduce absenteeism by up to half and can lower monthly drug and dispensing fees up to 30 per cent.”
Adding GOeVisit to an existing employee benefit plan can partially, or even fully cover the cost of the program.
The time is right for a program like GOeVisit. According to Bryant, a 2014 Price Waterhouse Cooper study reported that nearly half of all Canadians surveyed believe that mobile health apps will make healthcare more convenient in the next three years, nearly two-thirds (75 per cent) would consider using virtual healthcare options in their own care or for someone they care for, while a whopping 83 per cent said they would definitely or were likely to use online prescription services.
“It is predicted that virtual consultations are expected to increase by 800 per cent by 2020,” adds Bryant.
GOeVisit is a monthly subscription-based program that costs $9.95 per person and $14.95 for a family (up to 10 family members). GOeVisit is also an excellent addition to existing corporate benefit plans, and can save money and reduce absenteeism. For more information, visit www.goevisit.com, call 1-866-31VISIT or toll free at I-866-318-4748.