Introducing Sesame Virtual Appointments
The end-to-end virtual appointment platform where doctors are in control
The extraordinary societal response to the COVID-19 pandemic is preventing many independent providers from caring for patients and maintaining their practices. While more providers and patients have turned to telemedicine as a substitute for physical appointments over the past several years, this technology-based approach to a traditional profession is surging in our trying times. Government action has helped; by suspending HIPAA compliance requirements, any provider with a phone can instantly become a teledoctor.
However, as the estimated length of the crisis extends, the limitations of existing telemedicine options for providers are becoming clear, especially for those who wish to maintain autonomy of their independent practices.
Work-for-hire telemedicine has benefits, but requires relinquishing control and is mostly limited to primary care
To date, most providers who practice telemedicine do so as an employee or part-time contractor for a dedicated telemedicine service. For some providers, these services could be a valuable income supplement during this crisis; providers usually receive a fixed fee for seeing each patient, and the service handles insurance billing, records, and the overall patient relationship. But what providers gain in these “work-for-hire” arrangements, they lose in flexibility and control when it comes to their schedules, fees, and services.
Additionally, the breadth of specialties and treatments offered through these services is limited. Telemedicine companies mostly offer primary care for acute medical conditions, although there are a few specialty-focused companies for behavioral health and dermatology.
Video conference solutions come up short with payment and billing needs
While work-for-hire solutions can supplement income, it doesn’t solve the problem of how independent practices and specialists care for their own patients during this crisis. For these practices, there are communication platforms, which are essentially HIPAA-compliant video conferencing, that make it easy to schedule, conduct, and keep records for telemedicine appointments.
However when it comes to fundamental economic issues of payment and billing, these video conferencing platforms don’t offer a solution.
Historically, insurers rarely offer reimbursement or even deductible credit for telemedicine consultations outside of an established telemedicine company’s pre-negotiated arrangement. As a result, providers now looking to offer telemedicine to their patients must either work out a direct payment arrangement, which is awkward to execute without a patient visit, or offer the consultations gratis.
Sesame Virtual Appointments is the direct-pay, end-to-end solution for all independent practices
To address the telemedicine needs of independent practices across all specialties, Sesame is introducing Virtual Appointments, our platform that combines a full suite of telemedicine tools with Sesame’s upfront payment model.
Sesame is an online direct-pay marketplace that connects patients with providers who offer up-front prices and clear descriptions of their medical services. Our platform allows individual providers to determine their available services, availability and pricing. Sesame charges patients upfront for services, and remits payment to the practice. Through Sesame’s marketplace, a practice’s direct-pay listings can be made available to a provider’s existing patient or a broader audience.
Sesame Virtual Appointments allows any independent practice to conduct telemedicine with limited or no office personnel. Sesame’s platform can also work in conjunction with any other video service, enabling a practice to utilize Sesame for just upfront payment.
“Sesame has allowed us to continue treating our patients who need consistent or routine care during the COVID-19 crisis. Their virtual appointment platform is easy to use and direct-pay allows me to set my own price and be paid out quickly for my time.”
- Dr. Tu Anh Luong of First Point Urgent care
Sesame and our video technology partner, Twilio, are offering the service free to all providers for the next three months as a way to introduce the concept of direct-pay services to a broader range of providers.
The demand for direct-pay and telemedicine will continue throughout COVID-19 and beyond
Patients who use Sesame are a mixture of those who are uninsured or have high deductible insurance plans. While these high-deductible patients have chosen Sesame out of preference for the direct-pay model’s certainty of an upfront price, compared to uncertain and all-too-common surprise charges from insurance, uninsured patients have no choice but to pay out-of-pocket for care. As we’ve begun to see surging unemployment rates resulting from COVID-19, we can expect the population of uninsured patients paying out-of-pocket to grow as well.
We also don’t know how the influx in virtual appointments will persist after COVID-19. Specialties that may have not seen the value or usability of virtual appointments in the past, are now compelled to adopt the technology and realize its potential benefits. Already during our pilot period, Sesame has seen quick virtual appointment adoption from a wide variety of specialties, including physical therapy, optometry and audiology.
One way or another, we can say with certainty that we expect more innovation, such as Sesame’s direct-pay telemedicine offering, to help providers survive this difficult period, and to develop supplemental ways of maintaining their practices until the world returns to normal.
To learn more about Sesame and our virtual appointment offering for providers, visit sesamecare.com or contact us directly at doctors@sesamecare.com.
