High-Tech Healthcare Makes Information More Accessible

The healthcare and insurance industries are seeing a shift. Patients want easier access to their doctors and employees want the same when it comes to insurance, and those industries are taking notice.
 
Matt Scovil was new to the world of healthcare and insurance - and was just trying to find out how much a doctor would cost. He says it wasn't easy to get an answer.

So an idea came to him.

"I need to build an app to find out how much it costs to go to the doctor," he said. And four years later - you have his company - Tulsa-based "Medefy."

The mobile app helps users compare quality and costs for doctors, procedures, hospitals and clinics.

"Because you don't know the cost of healthcare ahead of time, there can be a 10 to 20 time price difference in your own city.  So, in Tulsa an MRI can cost anything from $300 to $5,000 dollars for the same MRI depending on where you go," Matt Scovil said.

And, he says, many in the marketplace right now are millennials and tech comfortable Baby Boomers.

Physician Steve Sanders says patients are also steadily making the switch over to 'My chart.' The web-based service started very basic - but has evolved.
Now, patients and doctors can address everything from allergies to medications to immunizations to lab results - and it doesn't need to be face to face.

"If it is 10 o'clock at night and a question comes up regarding your medication, you can just send a message to my chart or they will get to you the next day or depending when the physician is on the system," Dr. Sander said.

Some things you still do, of course, need to see your doctor face to face. But programs like 'my chart' can speed up the process.

"Chest pain is a red flag so we can message immediately and say come in and lets get you evaluated, and it turns out that person is having a hear attack and not acid indigestion," the doctor said.

So - many agree this mobile trend is something we will be seeing more and more of in the healthcare industry.

"Starting to put the engagement back into the employer or employee relationship to manage costs and deliver care in a technology friendly way," said Matt Scovil, creator of the app "Medefy."