Blog Post

Will telemedicine do to healthcare what Amazon did to retail?

Will telemedicine have the infamous Amazon effect on healthcare the way the online juggernaut has had on retail? In a post-COVID world, telemedicine will reshape how you deliver care by giving both you and your patients increased flexibility.

Amazon’s journey to replace traditional retail habits has fundamental similarities to what the medical profession is experiencing.

A look into your day.

When you started to practice medicine, did you realize how much time would be spent on administrative tasks? Many physicians can relate to the never-ending duties required to keep a practice running.

In addition, healthcare is weighed down by stringent regulatory restrictions and challenges, making it difficult for providers and clinic administrators to see telemedicine’s return on investment. Do you ever think to yourself, “I just want to practice medicine!”

This is where Sniffle makes a difference. We believe our unique approach to telemedicine benefits both practices and patients.

We know it’s personal.

Unlike Amazon’s impact on retail jobs, telemedicine improves patient-provider relationships by making remote care easier. In addition, providers who use Sniffle set their fees. The app is completely free for your practice and costs patients only $10 per visit.

Sniffle is enabling access to primary care from practically anywhere. Remember house calls? (Or do your parents or grandparents remember them?) We believe the shift to telemedicine puts patients at the center of care. The Sniffle difference is in the improved efficiency, enhanced flexibility, and increased revenue.

Telemedicine can be vital to your practice and help you build closer, more beneficial relationships with patients. Providers across the country are turning to remote care, and Sniffle can be your resource.

Industry reports echo telemedicine’s impact.

In a 2017 Telehealth & Telecare Aware article covering the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) Conference, contributor Bruce Judson hypothesized that telemedicine will disrupt location-based care and that health systems and payors are denying its power. He makes the following points:

Telemedicine will start incorporating continuous feedback loops for providers to optimize services further and move into virtual health coaching and chronic care management.
Platforms will be successful through positive patient experiences. Telemedicine is a consumer satisfaction model.
The internet and retail do not endure the regulatory force imposed on healthcare, making the retail analogy inexact. Governments monitor and regulate health outcomes, not search results or video downloads.

A recent Accenture report states that telehealth will be a billion-dollar industry. Healthcare providers large and small are adopting virtual care platforms to drive new business and connect with their patients outside the office. In addition, a survey conducted by the University of Missouri School of Medicine found that more than 80 percent of providers and consumers are comfortable with video-based care. Your patients are likely ready to adopt this technology.

At UMass Memorial, Senior Medical Director Thomas Scornavacca, DO, relies on mobile health tools to help a network of physicians “keep the patient in the middle of care.” For example, he believes a physician might lose patients to the retail clinic down the street or a competing telehealth platform that promises on-demand care without those touches.

In a Medical Economics article about integrating telehealth, key points include:

Telehealth doesn’t replace face-to-face encounters with clinicians. Instead, it can augment the provider-patient relationship.
We’re at the tipping point of the shift. Patients already schedule appointments online, as well as complete forms and view lab results.
Telemedicine visits help to triage urgent requests, follow-up visits, and prescription refills and decrease non-emergent visits to EDs.