A Rochester pediatrician made a trip to Capitol Hill today, to advocate for Medicaid funding for telemedicine.
Dr. Kenneth McConnochie of UR Medicine says a virtual doctor's visit saves both time and money.
"An emergency department visit for what turns out to be an ear infection can take you four hours or even longer depending how busy it is. That same visit for the same problem can be accomplished in your child's day care center or say, a retail pharmacy, takes no time at all."
Dr. McConnochie wrote a whitepaper presented at a Senate briefing this morning. It outlines the success of the Health-e-Access Connected Care model, a Rochester based telemedicine network that allows children in the city school district to be treated by a physician at their school, day care, or other remote setting.
Dr. McConnochie says telemedicine is just as effective as an in-person doctor's visit.
“Actually, some of the telemedicine technology can be brought into the office and we could be doing better things in the office, like taking pictures of a child's eardrum. Clearly, what you see in the pictures are better than what I get with my handheld otoscope in the office."
Inner city child care centers that have telemedicine reported a 64 percent drop in absences. Children who had access to the program made 22 percent fewer visits to an emergency department than their peers.
Dr. McConnochie said in the future, virtual doctor's visits could be possible by using a smart phone equipped with special technology. He said the biggest barriers are funding and reluctance of physicians and patients who are accustomed to doing things the traditional way.
An estimated 15 million U.S. children live in areas where there is a shortage of medical professionals.
