Tech giant Google is trying out the telehealth waters with a video-based platform that connects consumers searching online for health data with physicians.
"When you're searching for basic health information – from conditions like insomnia or food poisoning – our goal is provide you with the most helpful information available," a Google spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement. "We're trying this new feature to see if it's useful to people."
Google's Helpouts, offering the option to talk with a doctor, in search results.
The temporary trial, officials pointed out, is being run with Google's platform Helpouts, a service which enables consumers to get live video help from experts on a wide variety of topics – everything from getting a live Portuguese language lesson to how to properly use your inhaler. The testing period will allow Google to ascertain if this real-time physician access could be beneficial to consumers.
One Reddit member had posted a screen shot of the the feature after searching for "knee pain" on his smartphone, detailing what the service looked like.
Following the search, a box popped up detailing a list of healthcare providers available for a telehealth consult regarding the specific health condition. All visit costs, according to Google, are covered during this trial period.
A Google health platform with digital provider visits could be a big advance in the digital health space. Insurers from startup cooperatives to WellPoint are betting on the potential of telehealth, with more reimbursing providers for consults via online video chats and some starting their own telehealth technology programs.
WellPoint is trying to grow a subsidiary called LiveHealth Online, a 24/7, 365 telemedicine service staffed by a national network of independent physicians, available to anyone for $49 per online visit and to many commercially-insured Anthem members for about $20 or the cost of a primary care co-pay.
Arches Health Plan, Utah's consumer-oriented and operated insurer, has started a telemedicine program for 4,500 physicians in its network through a partnership with the Salt Lake City tech company TruClinic. The insurer is making the telemedicine available to providers, and then leaving it up to them to use it with members however works best.