House Calls for Healthcare Professionals: audio program
How many times have you wanted advice from a doctor but didn't have time for an appointment? Have you delayed medical treatment because you couldn't reach your own doctor and didn't know of an alternative? What if there was a more convenient way to receive care for a minor illness or injury? For the people of Hawaii, there is now an innovative way to get answers and advice quickly and affordably.
Hawaii Medical Service Association (HMSA), one of the largest health plans in Hawaii, recently launched an initiative to provide online healthcare to every citizen. Residents can get answers to medical questions or treatment advice for minor illnesses or injuries from a participating doctor using online Web messaging, video visits or the telephone.
In this edition of House Calls, Bill Crounse, M.D., and his guests from Microsoft HealthVault and Microsoft partner American Well Systems discuss how this new service directly benefits both patients and the healthcare system in Hawaii.
Roy Schoenberg, M.D., M.P.H., is CEO of American Well Systems and the inventor of the American Well™ concept. Today, Dr. Schoenberg directs the company's product development as well as all of its operations. Prior to founding American Well, Dr. Schoenberg was founder of CareKey, Inc., a software company offering electronic health management systems. Dr. Schoenberg is the author of numerous publications, lectures, and books on the subject of medical informatics, many of which he published during his work at the Center for Clinical Computing at Harvard's Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital.
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Patricia G. Avila, M.D., M.P.H., is medical director for HMSA Online Care and a practicing primary care and preventive medicine physician in Hawaii. Dr. Avila has over 20 years of experience as a primary care and preventive medicine specialist. Dr. Avila is a published author of "Fitness for Health and Sports", the first United States Olympic Center-licensed fitness book. She was lead physician for the Arco Olympic Training Center in California for over 12 years, while maintaining a private practice and faculty for family practice residents. Dr. Avila moved to Hawaii in 2004 to open the first Women's Health Program at Queen's Hospital in Honolulu.
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James R. Mault, M.D., FACS, is the director for the Health Solutions Group at Microsoft Corporation. Dr. Mault has more than 25 years of experience as a senior executive in the medical device and health IT industry as well as in clinical medicine. He is board-certified in both general surgery and cardiothoracic surgery, having specialized in heart and lung transplantation, thoracic oncology, and critical care. Dr. Mault is the author of more than 100 scientific articles, chapters, and books and is the named inventor of dozens of issued and pending patents for a variety of medical devices and health information systems, as well as the founder of five successful medical device and health information technology companies.
