Videochat instead of a visit to the practice - Already today doctors in the digital age

Is the visit to the doctor soon obsolete?

The eyes are burning, the throat is scratching and the head is booming - a visit to a doctor seems to be unavoidable. But once you have tormented yourself in the practice, often comes to the disillusionment. The waiting room is occupied except for a few seats and you squeeze between other coughing and sneezing patients and sometimes waits more than an hour for the liberating call to the doctor. These times could soon belong to the past, because many physicians, as well as Dr. med. med. Franz Bartmann, President of the Medical Association of Schleswig-Holstein, advocate the introduction of video chat for remote diagnosis.

My doctor in the smartphone

According to Bartmann, a panel of experts from the medical association, consisting of physicians and lawyers, is committed to allowing future diagnoses, at least in exceptional cases, via video chat. Bad or complicated cases must be treated in practice in the future. Presumably, the next German Medical Conference, which takes place in May 2018 in Erfurt, will be decided officially. "With a high probability, this will also be decided," says Bartmann.

Legal hurdles

At the moment remote diagnosis is prohibited in Germany. Only follow-up treatment of known patients may be performed by video-consultation. For example, it can be checked if a wound heals as expected. "The changes in the field of remote treatment are important to strengthen telemedicine in Germany," explains Bartmann. In particular, it could counteract the shortage of doctors in rural areas and ensure good health care.

Pilot projects should provide more clarity

At the beginning of the year, a pilot project for remote treatment is to be launched in Baden-Württemberg. For the time being for private patients, from March follow then cash patients. Other projects have already taken place in North Rhine-Westphalia and in Berlin in retirement homes. Thus, the caregiver can bring the family doctor by video transmission to the individual patients. Long journeys and waiting times are eliminated. Another use for family doctors is the involvement of experts to get the advice of a specialist.

Split enthusiasm

Health experts at the Consumer Center support the push of the doctors. "In countries such as Switzerland and the United Kingdom, telemedicine is already part of the standard of care," says speaker Susanne Mauersberg to the dpa news agency. Telemedicine is as good as a direct contact between doctor and patient for certain medical fields. Videogames will, in their opinion, be a normal part of care in the future. But not all physicians rate this development positively in the news agency's message. "Many older colleagues still doubt the meaning of telemedicine," says Matina Wenker, Vice President of the German Medical Association. Younger doctors are more open to technology and the resulting change in the job description. "For many land doctors like me, the internet is still too bad to offer video consultation," says pediatrician Voigt from Melle near Osnabrück. Osnabrück's family doctor Micha Neubert has been offering an online consultation since the beginning of the year. "I want to offer my patients a service, but at the moment I'm still making losses," says Neubert.

Dissemination of video consultation still very low

In Germany, there are just under 379,000 licensed doctors, but only a few hundred already offer a video chat session. According to the medical association, the main reason for the low prevalence among the health insurance companies who pay too little for this service. The monthly cost of software suitable for video consultation hours is between € 30 and € 70 per month. However, the doctor can claim only 800 euros per year for this form of consultation and only if it is comparatively cheaper follow-up treatments. (Fp)