This week, Medicare announced the expansion of its telehealth services; now, those who are unable to make it to a doctor's office - or feel uncomfortable traveling amidst the COVID-19 outbreak - can conduct an appointment completely online.

To provide their customers with a safer and more convenient check-up experience, the US-based health insurance provider for patients 65 and older, Medicare, announced that it's expanding its coverage of telehealth services, albeit temporarily, amidst the coronavirus outbreak. This change will give patients the ability to have a doctor's appointment from their own home from the comfort of devices like their smartphone.

If available, patients will be able to speak with doctors, nurse practitioners, clinical psychologists, and licensed clinical social workers who can offer "evaluation and management visits, mental health counseling and preventive health screenings" depending on a patient's medical needs.

The catches are that these appointments are not related to a previous one conducted over the past week and won't lead to another one within 24 hours. Patients must be willing to have their medical documents shared with physicians online via secured portals.

Meanwhile, as such an offering gives some US patients their first experience with telehealth, across the pond European and Asian digital doctors have been busy at work diagnosing patients in virtual offices. Just last year, a business backed by China's top insurance company was launched offering residents a subscription plan that gives them access to online doctors 24/7.

The business, called Good Doctor, costs patients an annual fee spanning from about US$70 to US$280 , depending on what type of doctors or specialists they need. According to Bloomberg, this program allows customers to "consult specialists about everything from hypertension to the digestive problems of newborns-anytime and from anywhere", completely digitally.

Though similar offerings have been available in the US as well over past years, patients faced issues with finding physicians within their insurance network who could do online consultations. Now that Medicare is offering such a service, even if just temporarily while the coronavirus outbreak is ongoing, it will likely inspire an expansion of virtually available medical services in the future, and not just to those aged 65 and older.

 - AFP Relaxnews