Virtual Visits are asynchronous visits that can be completed
using internet tools without the actual face-to-face presence of the
physician and the patient in the same physical location. They
are appropriate for established patients only, and are generally
used for follow-up of established problems where response to a
change in medication or change in lifestyle needs to be
documented. Virtual Visits can also be used when the
patient has a symptom or problem that may not require a physical
examination for the physician to come to a conclusion about. I often use an automated history-taking tool called Instant
Medical History to structure the interview and organize the
patients' responses to the interview questions. This is
the same tool I ask patients to use before a regular
face-to-face visit to capture and organize the patients' story and
concerns.
When virtual visits are implemented, I will
receive a notification of the Instant Medical History interview with
the patient, and will post a response to the interview on the secure
site. The patient will be emailed to check the site for the
response. The response might be instructions to change a
medication, a new prescription, instructions for behavior change, or
a request that the patient schedule a face-to-face visit.
At this time, Virtual Visits are not yet
available. They should be fully operational and available sometime
in 2008.