I recently saw this in my email from an online journal:
Teladoc telehealth services roll out on Amazon’s Alexa
Patients will be able to say, “Alexa, I want to talk to a doctor,” to connect with Teladoc Health’s call center. It’s the latest example of Amazon adding health services to its voice assistant.
Wow. Are our training and expertise just marketing gimmicks now? Are we that much of a commodity that you can ask, on a whim, for a doctor on Alexa?
Direct Primary Care is the most comprehensive and accessible care that you can get right now. We answer texts, emails, and phone calls from our patients almost immediately. This is the gold standard. That being said, none of us want to wait for a bell that is rung by a patient. And isn’t that the same as “Alexa, I want to talk to a doctor?”
Users will then get a call back on their Echo devices from a Teladoc doctor for virtual visits related to non-emergency health needs, including symptoms of a cold, flu, allergies or COVID-19.
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/teladoc-partner-amazon-alexa-enabled-virtual-visits
Really? A cold? Allergies?
This is not what ANY of us went into primary care for. So who are the docs answering Alexa’s call? Are they docs? Are they just handing out inappropriate amounts of antibiotics and giving crappy care?
I think the better question may be why any doctor is doing this job with Teladoc versus doing Direct Primary Care and being the doctor you always thought you would be.
I see 2 teladoc patients a day to supplement my DPC income as we go through our churn and burn. It’s an easy platform to work with and they are OK with me being opted out. I appreciate their existence.
Yup, this is why I put this post on the opinion channel. Though I totally understand using them to supplement your income, my issue is that they pretend this is complete primary care and it is not. That was my point.