Started about 20 years ago, Medweb is seeking to combat a startling trend that has been growing over recent years. In general, the overall number of physicians is lessening, and populations in remote areas are vastly underserved medically. Medweb is a leader in providing telemedicine options around the world with installations in Tristan de Cunha, Malaysia and Pakistan—with Afghanistan a work in progress.
Recently, Medweb’s CEO and founder Peter Killcomons took some time for HealthTechZone to illuminate what Medweb and WebRTC can offer healthcare.
Killcommons illustrates a key issue affecting healthcare today: “The number of physicians available to provide medical services is decreasing relative to the proportion of the population. Whole nations are anticipating major crises if they can’t come up with a more efficient way to make use of physician’s and healthcare experts time.”
Here in the United States, we’ve see the introduction of parody payment. What this means is that whether you see a doctor face to face or on the web, the copayment stays the same...parody payment—you can see doctor over web or face-to-face and pay the same co-pay.
Killcommons introduces this point to discuss something that could be integral min aiding the United States healthcare system, virtual visits. He suggests that Medweb allows for a person not feeling well to literally pick their smartphone, which will allow them to link to a medical professional in a virtual visit and make a much more educated decision as to whether or not a trip to the hospital is necessary.
Killcommons believes the use of these applications can eliminate 80 percent of emergency room visits.
He also illustrates what wearables could mean for the field of telemedicine. They provide a gateway to collect data, giving medical professionals contextual health information to help determine if a visit to the emergency room is needed—Medweb connects to both Apple’s Health Kit as well as Google Fit.
Many are probably concerned about security and regulations on medical records and the like but Killcommons assures that, “we’ve built infrastructures that tie into medical standards.” Medweb follows the FDA for app and tool development so there is seamless integration as well as HIPAA compliant.
Only time will tell what the future holds for WebRTC and telemedicine but it is clear there is benefit. And, overall, Killcommons believes “WebRTC provides a very tangible and successful application or suite of applications that can be used to radically improve healthcare.”
Edited by
Alisen Downey
