Over 2,700 sign up for telemedicine before, during Irma
A few days before Hurricane Irma made landfall, Florida Hospital and Nemours Children’s Hospital decided to give the community free access to their telemedicine services. The response surprised them.
More than 2,700 people signed up for Florida Hospital’s eCare between Sept. 8 and 10. At Nemours, officials saw a 554 percent jump in the number of people who installed the CareConnect app.
“The big lesson for us was how valuable [telemedicine] can be during disasters,” said Dr. Scott Brady, president of Florida Hospital’s Centra Care urgent care, which staffs eCare.
Telemedicine has been around for decades, but its adoption in health care has been slow, partly because of a lack of an insurance reimbursement model, which continues to be a barrier. But that hasn’t stopped innovative companies from offering the service for a flat fee, taking advantage of advancements in technology and consumers’ acceptance of virtual care.
More recently, health systems like Nemours and Florida Hospital have jumped on board by establishing their own virtual care service line instead of hiring a third-party vendor. Florida Hospital eCare virtual visits are typically $49, and Nemours CareConnect charges the same amount.
And the past weekend’s significant response only confirms their investment.
Of the people who downloaded Florida Hospital’s eCare, more than 230 wanted to see a provider and connected with one. Just on the Saturday before Irma, more than 100 people talked to a provider on eCare, Brady said. That’s compared with about seven visits on a typical Saturday.
“Our doctors said that a lot of people who called during the hurricane were just scared and needed to talk to someone to be reassured that they could wait a couple of days before going to see their doctor,” Brady said.
Nemours officials said in a statement that they were still finalizing their numbers from the weekend, but preliminary data showed that between Sept. 8 and 11, the Friday and Monday flanking Irma, as many people had a virtual doctor visit on Nemours CareConnect as the cumulative number of visits in three months.
“As it happened, a great many families showed concern about their children’s health during Hurricane Irma,” said Dr. Shayan Vyas, Medical Director of Nemours’ Telehealth, CareConnect, in a statement. “Nemours providers were able to give medical advice, prescribe medications and check on patients despite curfews, scarcity of open pharmacies and power outages.”
At the peak of the demand, four Nemours providers were talking to patients with another three to five callers waiting in line for each, according to the health system.
Brady of Florida Hospital scheduled five physicians and nurse practitioners to help during the weekend.
Florida Hospital decided earlier this week to extend its free service through today in response to consumer demand and also as a solution to lighten the burden on its emergency rooms, particularly in Tampa.
“In terms of routine medical care, some folks enjoy [virtual care] and some don’t. But in case of emergencies, this is the perfect solution,” Brady said.