As Florida continues to grow, an aging population, aging primary care physicians and changing demographics challenges. To secure Florida’s future, Florida must take the correct steps toward an innovative and sustainable population will experience a workforce shortage which could limit access to care.

The Florida Chamber supports the overwhelming need to correct rising costs and believes telemedicine to care while controlling costs, especially in rural areas. Telemedicine can be used for primary care services, education and other health related services. Currently, Florida lacks a comprehensive telemedicine law. chronic diseases by providing better management via technology, allow greater coordination and management Florida Chamber partner Baptist Health South Florida already has a state‐of‐the-art eICU program in place savings.

BY INGRID CASE

A tourist couple take a photo in an iconic red telephone box in Parliament Square as snow falls in London, Friday, Jan. 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant) A tourist couple take a photo in an iconic red telephone box in Parliament Square as snow falls in London, Friday, Jan. 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Tim Bright’s work as a well-site geologist for Denver-based Columbine Logging Inc. takes him from his home in Las Vegas to jobs all over the Rocky Mountain region. One Saturday in early November, Bright was preparing to go to an undeveloped job site in northern Nevada, where he would spend three weeks away from civilization.

Then he realized he didn’t feel well.

“My throat was sore and my lymph nodes hurt,” he says. “As time went on, I felt worse.”

Going to his doctor would have meant not working on Monday—if he could get a Monday appointment—and when Bright isn’t working, he doesn’t get paid.

Going to the doctor from his job site wasn’t a great choice, either.

“We live and work at the well site, working for a couple of weeks at a time, then taking a week off,” Bright says. “You’d either have to go to the doctor when it’s not your 12-hour shift, or call the boss to send in someone else to come take your shift. The boss is in Denver. I’m in the wilds of Nevada. Calling to get relief for just one day would not go over too well."

So Bright used his employer’s new telemedicine benefit.

The future of healthcare is happening now in Oregon.

When a seven-month-old baby had a fever over 102 and a rash, doctors at a small hospital in rural Oregon used telemedicine to connect to Oregon Heath and Science University. She was eventually diagnosed with a serious bacterial infection. The decision? To fly the child to the Portland, Oregon hospital.

Not only is health information technology helping to control costs, it's also creating new opportunities for revenue.

This article appears in the October issue of HealthLeaders magazine.

Healthcare systems find that telemedicine can help grow their volume and drive out inefficiencies, but new methods of care delivery require thoughtful planning to avoid hiccups.

The UC Davis Health System now offers access to 30 specialty care services ranging from behavioral health and dermatology to audiology and ophthalmology for both children and adults.

(DALLAS) Oct. 2, 2013 – Teladoc, the nation’s first and largest telehealth provider with more than 6 million members, and Pepsi Bottling Ventures (PBV), the largest privately held bottler of Pepsi-Cola products in North America, today shared a case study demonstrating a 400 percent return on investment for PBV using telehealth services. The case study was conducted throughout a 12-month period by Consult A Doctor, which was acquired by Teladoc last month.

Acquisition broadens Teladoc’s reach to provide services to new market segments

(DALLAS, Texas) Sept. 4, 2013 – Teladoc, the nation’s first and largest telehealth provider with more than 6 million members, announced today the acquisition of Consult A Doctor, a telehealth company founded in 2007. With this acquisition, individuals and employees of small- to medium-size businesses will now have access to Teladoc’s national network of U.S. board-certified, state-licensed physicians for consults.

Employer Survey on Purchasing Value in Health Care

The crisis that every consumer or business owner faces when buying health insurance is caused by a flawed system. Most carriers rely on agents and brokers to sell their products and give them incentives -- commissions - to do so. What happens when premiums go down? Commissions go down. Therefore, agents and brokers really have no incentive to offer product solutions that will bring premiums down. Health care consumers are being fleeced by undereducated health care brokers who are over-occupied with commissions.

As my hero Robert F. Kennedy once said, "Fear not the path of truth for the lack of people walking on it." Growing up in Central Massachusetts, I learned the everyday values of what was right and what was wrong. That being said, it's a shame Bobby Kennedy is not here to help America with what is going on in the health insurance industry.

The crisis that every consumer or business owner faces when buying health insurance is caused by a flawed system. Most carriers rely on agents and brokers to sell their products and give them incentives -- commissions - to do so. What happens when premiums go down? Commissions go down. Therefore, agents and brokers really have no incentive to offer product solutions that will bring premiums down. Health care consumers are being fleeced by undereducated health care brokers who are over-occupied with commissions. 

9 TELADOC

For strengthening the doctor-patient connection. Teladoc provides medical consultations by phone and video, selling its services to insurers that want to keep members from making unnecessary trips to the doctor’s office. Last year, the company more than doubled its membership and launched a service to let physicians connect directly to their patients. A new partnership with medical software company HealthSpot will let Teladoc create private, walk-in kiosks for patient care.