The American Academy of Family Physicians plans to roll out a telehealth service to its 129,000 members in late 2018.
Here are four things to know about the telehealth service.
1. The AAFP will offer the telehealth platform through a partnership with Zipnosis, a provider of virtual healthcare technology. On the telehealth platform, AAFP members will be able to connect with their existing patients to supplement in-person care with remote diagnosis and treatment services.
2. The telehealth service will provide family physicians access to an online interview platform, where patients are able to provide symptoms and health history information. It will also offer physicians video consultation technology to remotely connect with their patients.
3. The AAFP will roll out the telehealth platform to a select group of members as part of a pilot program to tailor the platform to the needs of family physicians, the society announced April 3. The telehealth service will expand to all of the society's members in late 2018.
4. The AAFP pursued the partnership with Zipnosis after reviewing the results of a 2017 member survey, which suggested its members have a growing interest in virtual healthcare services targeting family medicine.
"Patients today want quick and easy access to healthcare, but that convenience shouldn't come at the cost of the relationship they have with their family physician," said Steven Waldren, MD, director of the AAFP's Alliance for eHealth Innovation. "Offering this new telemedicine platform gives our family physician members another tool through which they can care for patients."