Pros and Cons to Keep in Mind

During the pandemic we saw a surge of telemed providers fill the need to provide healthcare services safely for patients.  Most health plans include some version of telemed benefits for their members.  Below we take a look at some of the pros and cons of telemed services.

Pros:

• Convenience
• Appointments can be done from anywhere, your couch, car, office. You do not have to drive to the providers office and wait in the waiting room.
• Cost
• Typically, telemed services have low or no copay for members to use. Additionally, most offer Urgent Care services in an attempt to encourage the use the correct level of service. In some cases, the ER is the correct level of service needed, however many ailments can be solved with a quick telemed consult at a much reduced or zero cost to the member.
• Ability to be seen quickly
• Most telemed providers have a stable of qualified Primary Care Providers and specialists available to be seen quickly on your schedule. As mentioned most telemed providers have an Urgent Care feature allowing for immediate assessment available 24/7/365. 

Cons:

• You do not always have the ability to choose your provider
• The telemed company may have several qualified providers, unfortunately you do not always have the ability to select the provider you are seen by.
• Not all exams can be done virtually
• Telemed services provided are growing daily, physical exams are still somewhat limited, an in-person follow-up may be needed to better assess some situations.
• Technology barrier
• While telemed providers attempt to make using their services as intuitive as possible there are still technology barriers which exist such as: relies on internet signal which must be strong, requirement of hardware (smart phone, computer) not all users have access to, risk of data leakage.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us anytime at support@carepathbenefits.com or at 1-888-750-0953.