Last week, Samsung revealed the highly-anticipated Galaxy S8 and S8+ smartphones. While these flashy pieces of hardware were naturally the high points of the event, Samsung unveiled other interesting news as well. With the Galaxy S8 comes a few significant design changes to Samsung’s UI, TouchWiz, and also some changes to its software, such as S Health becoming “Samsung Health”.
The name change itself isn’t anything significant. In fact, Samsung Health has largely the same functionality as S Health did in regards to tracking activity levels, sleep and eating habits. However, one major change that comes with Samsung Health is the ability to conduct virtual doctor visits right from your smartphone.
Virtual doctor visits have been around for a while now, and Samsung wouldn’t be the first to offer a specific app for such convenience. However, a major manufacturer like Samsung implementing the feature undoubtedly makes it more widely accessible and broadens the horizon on who is able to utilize the feature.
Doctors through Samsung’s network are real, accredited doctors, but options are limited in what exactly an online consultation with a doctor can do. For the most part, doctors are able to listen to concerns, diagnose symptoms (for minor conditions) and can send some prescriptions to local pharmacies. This is particularly useful in America where getting sick while employed can easily result in a catch-22 – employer tells you to stay home if you’re sick, but if you’re sick for more than a day or two (which is common with illnesses like colds or gastroenteritis) a doctor’s note is usually required. While that in itself isn’t inherently difficult, waiting at the doctor’s office while sick is certainly not a pleasant activity, particularly when you wait simply to tell the doctor your symptoms, get a prescription (if you’re lucky), and get out. In my experience, people just return to work whether symptoms have faded or not rather than potentially wasting a trip and money by going to the doctor’s.
Even if employers aren’t involved, it’s not a terrible idea to think that there’s literally relief at your fingertips when you’re sick. My family has been through their share of colds just this past winter, some worse than others, resulting in some nasty ear infections and bad coughs, and waiting in the doctor’s office was the last place any of us wanted to be. Aside from convenience, it’s also worth noting that 20% of the Americans live in areas experiencing a shortage of physicians and health care specialists, making access to some telehealth services – where doctors can be miles away from their patients - extremely beneficial.
Samsung claims that its online doctor visits are accepted by most insurances, but there’s another bump in the road that may require added research when it comes to obtaining a prescription from a remotely conducted doctor visits, and that’s state laws regarding distribution of telemedicine. Many states have already passed laws allowing remote prescriptions, but several others have yet to pass laws that allow it. Laws are constantly changing, so a good place to check up on a specific state is to refer to the American Telemedicine Association’s website for updated and accurate information.
Doctor visits conducted remotely through video conferences will only work for minor illnesses, and if a problem is bad enough the doctor will likely recommend that an in-person visit to a local physician is required. Still, it’s a step up from attempting to self-diagnose yourself through WebMD or Dr. Google (which we’ve all done) and can potentially save unnecessary trips to the doctor, not to mention a reduction in spreading germs to unsuspecting bystanders who may be in the waiting room with you. With a company as large as Samsung implementing online doctor visits, I wouldn’t be surprised for it to be a common feature in most smartphones within the next few years.
Readers, what are your thoughts on this fairly recent development? Have you ever had a virtual doctor visit from your phone, or intend to try it out in the future?
