TV doc treats outside the box
BYLINE: KEVIN DUFFY, ERIC STIRGUS
Staff
DATE: August 16, 2006
PUBLICATION: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The (GA)
EDITION: Main; The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
SECTION: Metro News
PAGE: D1
Got an earache or itchy rash?
Then log on, look into the camera and listen to the doctor.
Health-e-Station is a cozy off-hours clinic where strep throats, colds, sinus infections and other minor ailments are treated by a doctor who is miles away and talks to the patient over a plasma TV.
The first Health-e-Station opened this week in the Braelinn Village shopping center in Peachtree City, but many more are planned.
The concept pushes telemedicine -- technology-based long-distance health care -- in a new direction: the suburbs.
"This is where medicine is going," said Andrew Agwunobi, who ran Grady Health System from 2003 to 2005 and is now the chief operating officer for a hospital chain in California and chairman of Health-e-Station.
Health-e-Station, Agwunobi said, is cheaper and quicker than emergency room care.
Here's how it works: The patient walks in between 4 p.m. and 8 a.m., gets a logon and password from the front desk receptionist and goes to a computer to answer medical history questions.
A medical assistant checks the patient's blood pressure before both meet with the doctor, who's on TV in another room. On the doctor's instructions, the assistant puts an otoscope in the patient's ear or points a camera down the throat or presses an electronic stethoscope against the chest.
Sensations are transmitted by computer. Whatever the doctor sees or hears, the patient sees on a split screen or hears through a stethoscope.
The doctor prescribes a remedy and the patient's off to any 24-hour pharmacy, less than 30 minutes after walking in the door. The cost is $65.
Right now, patients have to pay out of pocket, but Health-e-Station is talking with insurers about getting coverage.
The clinic, painted in designer colors, is being marketed as a place to hang out even without seeing the doctor. Coffee, comfortable seats and lots of medical literature is available for late-night lounging.
Visitors can purchase health care books and home testing kits for diabetes, anemia and cholesterol.
If someone just wants to talk to a doctor, that's OK, too. Prices start at $25 for a 5-minute video consultation.
"The whole environment is to empower the patient," according to Elizabeth Nega, Agwunobi's wife and the company's chief medical officer.
Many physicians will choose to participate for lifestyle reasons, such as a desire for less stress and more daylight time with their children, Agwunobi said.
Peachtree City, an affluent Fayette County town, was chosen as the first Health-e-Station location because its population is highly educated and tech savvy, and the company CEO, Robert Russell, a former Grady executive, lives there.
"The way they've set it up is, to my knowledge, a novel application," said Max Stachura, a doctor and telemedicine expert at Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. "They've identified a niche of people who need services, and there's an urgency to it, but it's not cataclysmic."
KEITH HADLEY / Staff
