In this Wednesday Aug. 28, 2019 photo, emergency room physician, Dr. Anna Nguyen uses her smartphone to communicate with a remote patient from her Sacramento, Calif., home. The medical industry is seeing a growing form of care where doctors diagnose, treat and prescribe through secure text messages.
CirrusMD and rivals like 98point6 and K Health offer message-based treatment for injuries or minor illnesses normally handled by a doctor’s office or clinic. They say they’re even more convenient than the video telemedicine that many employers and insurers now offer, because patients accustomed to Uber-like convenience can text with a doctor while riding a bus or waiting in a grocery store line.
Message-based care providers say they take steps to ensure safety and recommend in-person doctor visits when necessary. Nguyen, for instance, once urged an 85-year-old woman who contacted CirrusMD about crushing chest pain to head to an emergency room. At first glance, a visitor to Nguyen’s Sacramento home wouldn’t be able to tell if she was the doctor or the patient during her recent shift. She sat at her dining room table and tapped her iPhone to bounce between patients.She gave physical therapy recommendations to the pregnant woman and helped a Colorado man who hurt his back moving boxes at work. A Michigan man checked in about his sore throat as that conversation wound down.
“I wish that there is a way for me to ... tell her, ‘Thank you so much, you kind of saved my life,’” Spitzer said. “I was able to give my recital and it was great.” K Health also started in 2018 with a business that offers personalized health information to patients who might otherwise Google their symptoms. Those patients then have an option to chat with a doctor.
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