Today on the Inland Journal podcast, seeing your doctor isn’t always a face-to-face exercise anymore.
More and more, clinics and hospitals are using communications technology to administer care to patients. Rural hospitals, for example, use video chats to connect patients with specialists in bigger cities. And now, on the individual level, IT firms have created apps for clinics to allow providers and patients to text back and forth or even conduct video chats.
One of the latest to get into that arena is MultiCare, the company that owns Spokane’s Deaconess and Valley Hospitals and Indigo Urgent Care.
Mark Mariani is a physician executive for retail health and strategic initiatives at MultiCare. Its Virtual Care service has two components, text messaging, available 24/7, and video calls, offered 8 am to 8 pm, seven days a week.
You can subscribe to the podcast of Spokane Public Radio’s national-award winning public affairs program, Inland Journal at Apple Podcasts, NPR One or Google Play.