More Than 25 Percent Of Pediatric 'Emergency' Visits Could Be Conducted Online, Study Suggests
Tuesday, May 6, 2008 - 07:21
in Health & Medicine
A community-wide study in upstate New York found that nearly 28 percent of all visits to the pediatric emergency department could have been replaced with a more cost-effective Internet doctor's "visit," or telemedicine. Health researchers -- who direct Health-e-Access, a Rochester-based telemedicine program that provides interactive, Internet-based health care "visits" to diagnose and treat routine childhood symptoms in 19 urban and suburban schools and childcare centers -- analyzed data from 2006, tracking all pediatric (younger than 19) visits to the largest emergency department in the city.