Wednesday 04 November

Will a Cool New Gadget Mean Less Wait Time at Your Next Doctor's Visit?

Product Snapshot

What is It? Phreesia is a new system that was developed to help digitize patient's medical information for doctors and save patients time and hassle in filling out forms.
Who Is It Good for? From the looks of it both doctors and patients benefit from having an electronic system as there is less likelihood of error in reading charts or understanding what's been written.
How Do I Get One? Doctor's offices need to contact Phreesia for more information.

Imagine tomorrow you go in to see your doctor. You go up and swipe your credit card at a small computer kiosk that's lightweight enough for you to pick up and place on your lap while you sit. Your name is populated into the system and using a touch-screen you input your information like verifying date of birth and then go on with giving your reason for the visit and updating previous medical history information. It sounds like something out of the Jetsons, right? But it's not. It's Phreesia, a new company that is working to make our doctor's visits more digital.

Some of you have already experienced tech companies that partner with physician offices—and so your doctor comes into the office visit with a laptop in hand and in seconds is sending out prescription orders and seeing updates from other physicians who have treated you. But this is taking it to another level, because they also can cut down on papers and storage of them by being able to gather HIPAA regulation sign-offs and other paperwork that certain office may require. The machine can also take your copayment. The beauty of these electronic systems for consumers is that repeatedly filing out paperwork is unnecessary, the data can be transferred easily—and things such as smudged fax copies never happen again. Also the machines are user-friendly in that when typing out your medications, it will figure out what you are typing after the first few letters and then give you options so you don't have to type it all out. But as Jill points out the video above, the real sweet spot is that it could streamline the process of going to the doctor's office—and who wouldn't want less wait time at your next doctor's visit?