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Microsoft, Cisco push paying doctors for online work

Self-insured employers are starting to pay physicians for online consultations, and that could boost volume on the service.

By Tyler Chin, amednews staff. Feb. 13, 2006.

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In a development that could kick start the adoption of online consultations between physicians and patients, self-insured employers are starting to reimburse for care delivered online.

On Jan. 2, Microsoft Corp., Premera Blue Cross and Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle launched an 18-month program under which Microsoft will pay $30 per online consultation between 100 participating Virginia Mason physicians and 5,000 Microsoft employees and their dependents.

Physicians get paid when established patients use a secure-messaging system from California-based Relay Health Corp. The system includes an "interview" in which patients answer questions about their problems, information then used by the physician to determine whether to handle the issue online or schedule an office visit. Physicians would not get paid for e-mail with patients.

And starting in 2007, Cisco Systems Inc., one of Silicon Valley's biggest companies, plans to begin reimbursing doctors for online consultations.

Industry observers are closely watching the Microsoft pilot because, so far, "there hasn't been overwhelming evidence of money being saved or health outcomes improving" from online consultations, said Erika S. Fishman, senior analyst at Manhattan Research, a New York consulting firm. If the pilot produces results showing online consultations are cost-effective, other self-insured employers likely will reimburse for the service, followed by commercial insurers, she predicted.