Are Shorter Doctor’s Office Wait Times Just a Phone Call Away?
Nobody likes to wait, especially at the doctor’s office. No one knows for sure what will happen to wait times, which average from about 16 minutes to just over 24 minutes nationwide according to Vitals – as 30 million more Americans obtain health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act. But it stands to reason that wait times could increase. Couple that with the looming shortage of primary care physicians, and time spent in doctors’ waiting rooms may become an even more precious commodity.
Linda Barlow
Patients who lack, well, the patience to wait may have a solution – one that is showing great promise to eliminate doctor visit copays and is available even to those without medical insurance. The free Urgent Care app from GreatCall Inc. is designed to give people 24/7 access to health care information anytime, anywhere. Launched in January, the GreatCall app rose to the top of the Google Play and App Store medical categories by mid-May.
Urgent Care is the only app that provides users with round-the-clock access – for a price of $3.99 per call – to a live, registered nurse with LiveCare Clinic who can escalate inquiries to a board-certified doctor for health-related advice, diagnosis and even prescriptions without an appointment. It also provides a medical dictionary and medical symptom checker tool.
Urgent Care empowers patients to make choices about how and where they receive medical consultation. For example, many access the app’s Interactive Symptom Checker feature to pinpoint various symptoms of common ailments they might initially find uncomfortable to discuss in person. The app also helps identify:
- Possible causes of symptoms
- When to self-treat
- When to contact a medical professional
“With the costs of medical care rising, people are looking for other options to get access to quality health care,” said Aaron Amerling, Manager of Mobile Apps at GreatCall. “Urgent Care fills a very real need by giving anyone access to medical resources, as well as the ability to quickly connect to a nurse or doctor for less than the cost of a typical Starbucks beverage.”
Amerling notes that Urgent Care is being used by a wide range of people – from those seeking a Spanish-speaking nurse or doctor to those who have health insurance and are frustrated by sitting on-hold or waiting long periods for returned calls from their health care providers.
When asked whether apps like this undermine the authority of health care providers by placing too much control in the hands of patients, Amerling said, “When people have the ability to look up ailments online, they may find a myriad of potential causes and are unable to self-diagnose safely. That’s why we made the ability to access registered nurses and board-certified physicians for expert opinions an important component of Urgent Care.”
According to Amerling, the app has been so successful that the company is looking to add even more resources for patients, including:
- Access to health news and videos
- Drug information forums
- Expanded medical libraries
- A Spanish-language version of the app
Have you ever used Urgent Care or another app to obtain medical advice? If yes, how did you feel about the quality of care you received? If not, do you think you would ever use an app like this?
