Internet saturation in the United States has had a major effect on the doctor-patient relationship.

Online searches of medical symptoms are commonplace.

Not only can ordinary consumers research healthcare providers’ services and reviews, they have access to an astounding amount of medical information with which they can research symptoms. All this information and easy access is a double-edged sword, however. On the one hand, it can turn the overly-cautious person into a temporary hypochondriac should he research symptoms and discover a frightening disease in search results.

On the other hand, online information could lead a reluctant healthcare consumer to seek help. Seeing a photograph of a melanoma and realizing it resembles a mole on her hand, a person may be less likely to brush it off as nothing and seek medical help.

Doctors have mixed feelings about all the online research their patients do. Some actively encourage patients to learn about their diseases or conditions from reputable websites, while others think the internet confuses patients and adds to their already-demanding patient loads.

Google has been quietly testing a service that could help bridge the sometimes large gap between online diagnosis and confirmed medical diagnosis by offering virtual consultations with physicians to selected users researching health conditions.

A New, Limited Service Being Tested by Google

This service has not been rolled out to everyone, but what happens is this: a user performs a Google search on a symptom and Google offers a link that takes him to a video chat with an actual doctor. Users with whom this new service is being tested see the following notice:

“Based on your search query, we think you are trying to understand a medical condition. Here you can find healthcare providers who you can visit with over video chat. All visit costs are covered by Google during this limited trial.”

Google confirmed this information with TechRepublic, and assured that the service complies with patient privacy and other provisions under HIPAA. The service was developed from Google’s partnership with San Diego healthcare company Scripps Health and nationwide physicians’ group One Medical. The technology behind this feature is Helpouts, which is Google’s service that connects users to various experts (medical or non-medical) through video chat. Experts are selected based on their qualifications, availability, and their reviews.

Google Is Paying the Costs – For Now

Right now, during the testing phase of this service, Google is paying the costs, and there is no cost to the consumer. This experiment is supposed to help Google determine if on-demand access to physicians could help users have more effective search experiences. If it is eventually rolled out to the general public, you can assume that it will have a cost associated with it. If it remains part of the Helpouts service, users will pay via Google Wallet, the company’s on- and offline payment system.

The Role for Similar Services in the Telemedicine Trend

Telemedicine, or the provision of healthcare services at a distance via phone, email, and video conferencing, is slowly expanding in the US. First used to help underserved rural areas, telemedicine is expanding to assist everyone from those recently released from the hospital who need to monitor their conditions to busy parents who need help for common childhood illnesses but have limited options for taking time off work.

Right now, technology is not the limiting factor in expansion of telemedicine, because the technology exists and is used every day in nonmedical settings. The two major barriers to expanded telemedicine are physician licenses and services across state lines (since physicians are licensed by individual states), and reimbursement models through private pay, private insurance, and insurers like Medicaid and Medicare.

User Behavior Is Important

Should services like the one Google is testing be expanded, it has the possibility of greatly improving both healthcare access and convenience of healthcare delivery. However, the actions of the healthcare consumer in searching for healthcare information are important to determining the quality of the interaction.

Accuracy of healthcare searches can impact the quality of search results.

For example, a person may search on symptoms she believes are important, while neglecting symptoms she believes trivial, even though those trivial symptoms could be important. The specific symptoms typed into a search engine would affect the specific physician the searcher is connected with. Presumably, the online video interaction could clarify symptoms and which ones are important, but there are many unknowns at this point about how effectively such a service would deliver healthcare information.

This is also an issue in telemedicine in general. Face-to-face interaction is considered the primary model of healthcare delivery, and virtual interaction is something that both patients and doctors will have to adapt to. The limited studies that have been done, however, have found that telemedicine does not compromise patient outcomes when compared to face-to-face visits, and this is encouraging.

Studies have shown that with most telemedicine applications, when used appropriately, there is no difference in the ability of the physician to obtain important clinical information, make an accurate diagnosis, develop an appropriate treatment plan, and deliver the same desired clinical outcome between telemedicine-delivered services and traditional services.

Other Google Healthcare Initiatives

Google is not just exploring this limited telemedicine service as a way to improve healthcare knowledge and service delivery. It has also undertaken a human DNA mapping study to collect genetic material for better understanding of the human body, and has partnered with other companies to create products like “smart†contact lenses that can monitor blood glucose levels.

Conclusion

As telemedicine expands, it’s only to be expected that major tech companies will want to be a part of this healthcare revolution. Telemedicine is increasingly demonstrating that it can help control healthcare costs, increase convenience for both doctors and patients, and offer innovative solutions like home monitoring that can help people remain at home rather than having to be hospitalized. It’s also connecting specialists in population centers with rural patients who otherwise wouldn’t have access to specialized medical care.

AccessRx.com is excited about the positive changes telemedicine is bringing to healthcare delivery. For over 15 years, AccessRx.com has delivered brand name prescription medications to over half a million satisfied consumers and knows firsthand how well healthcare consumers respond to convenient delivery of healthcare products and services. AccessRx.com is also a leader in protecting customer privacy and in providing the most secure online transactions.