Without seeing a doctor in their white coat with a stethoscope around their neck, it is normal for patients to wonder who the person providing them with virtual care is. The bottom line is simple – virtual doctors are the same as in-person doctors, they just prefer to treat patients wherever they can.
Each doctor should provide more than safe and effective clinical care — they should also offer excellent patient experiences. From the accuracy of clinical decision-making to the timeliness, level of courtesy and empathy in a healthcare interaction, doctors drive how a patient feels before, during and after a virtual visit— and influence whether an employee wants to utilize telemedicine in the future.
Any good telemedicine service should provide employees with access to licensed doctors in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. within minutes. Doctors should be board-certified in their field of medicine. For general telemedicine visits, the doctor’s specialty could be emergency, family, or internal medicine. This ensures that they can treat any patient with any issue that comes their way. The telemedicine provider should have the ability to monitor and train network doctors, so they offer the highest level of customer service to patients while adhering to clinical protocols.
Most importantly, virtual doctors believe in virtual care. One study found that 80% of doctors surveyed stated they would use telemedicine in the future (1). Doctors are also indicating comfort and preference for virtual care with 97% of primary care providers using virtual care to treat patients according to a 2021 survey (2). If it is not an emergency, telemedicine and virtual doctors are a great first step in assessing a patient’s health.
First Stop Health doctors are board certified in their field of medicine, can treat patients in all 50 states and Washington DC, and have 10 years of post-residency experience, on average. Amongst these doctors, 36% are certified in emergency medicine, 32% in family medicine, and 18% in internal medicine. The other 14% of First Stop Health doctors have specialties like pediatrics, gynecology, allergies and immunology, colon and rectal surgery, otolaryngology (head and neck surgery) and more.