Insurers still weighing pay for online consultations

Plans are considering continuing or expanding programs to reimburse for Web visits on a regular basis.

By Tyler Chin, AMNews staff. July 1, 2002.

To reimburse or not to reimburse? After nearly a year of reimbursing for Internet visits on an experimental basis, a handful of insurers are assessing the data they have collected to determine whether they ultimately will continue or broaden payment for "Web visits" or "e-visits" between physicians and established patients.

Since last spring, Blue Shield of California and ConnectiCare Inc. reimbursed doctors $20 for a Web visit as part of two studies designed to determine, among other things, whether physicians and their patients will adopt the technology and what impact it may have on health care costs.

Blue Shield of California and ConnectiCare said they were pleased with what they had seen so far. The volume of Web visits ranged from low to above expectation.

"There were a lot of very positive anecdotal comments from patients and physicians," said Jeffrey Rideout, MD, president of Blue Shield California's CPS Foundation and former chief medical officer of Blue Shield of California. The managed care company ended a 9-month test in May involving about 250 physicians and 3,240 patients with PPOs.

"My impression is that having the opportunity to be reimbursed for work done over the Internet is a huge plus for physicians -- just like we thought it would be," he said.

Blue Shield of California is awaiting the results of its study, which will be released within the next several months, before deciding whether to pay for online visits on a regular basis, and if so, to what extent, Dr. Rideout said. He referred questions about the level of usage to Healinx Inc., Emeryville, Calif., which is sponsoring the study of two tests in the state. [...]