How much do you actually pay to see the doctor? Why you need to use telemedicine.

How much do you really pay to see the doctor? I know you know it is a lot, but do you know how much?

You are not just paying the co-pay, the additional out of pocket expenses, the insurance premiums, but you are paying with your time. And with that time, you could be working to promote your career, spending time with your family, caring for your children. How do you put a price on that? And how do you value your time when your physicians care more about the convenience of his or her schedule, than the value of your family time?

The best place to learn about your expenses is through your health plan’s coverage documentation (Summary of Benefits, Evidence of Coverage, and other plan information). You can also check your member ID card for important cost information, such as copayments for office visits and emergency care. And we’re here to help too. At Prestige Clinics, we provide full price transparency so that all our patients know exactly how much money they are spending, and where they are spending their money.

But how is your time valued? At Prestige Clinics, we value all our patients and are thankful for the time they choose to spend with us. New research published in the American Journal of Managed Care estimates that, on average, it takes 121 minutes each time a person seeks medical care. The total includes 37 minutes of travel time, as well as 87 minutes at the doctor’s office or clinic. And how much of that time does the patient actually spend in the presence of physicians? Only 20 minutes. The other hour or so tends to be spent doing paperwork, communicating with non-medical office staff, and just plain sitting around waiting. That means on average, patients spend an hour in the waiting room! It is incredible to see just how much time in the day a physician visit can cost patients.

The study goes on to calculate that each visit costs around $75 for Medicare patients. The average out-of-pocket cost per medical visit is $32, and researchers found that patients encountered an even larger penalty due to what’s known as “opportunity cost” – the value of work and productivity that the individual might have otherwise been engaged in had he not been spending roughly two hours trying to see a doctor. Researchers estimate that the average opportunity cost of a medical visit comes to $43. In other words, the average trip to the doctor’s costs $75 ($32 out of pocket + $43 in lost opportunity), and that doesn’t count insurance premiums, which are supposed to help cover one’s medical expenses.

At Prestige Clinics, we pride ourselves on maximizing the patient’s time and ensuring that they do not incur needless costs. We have an array of tele-medicine, virtual reality, and telephone visit options that allow the patient to schedule physician appointments on their own time, at their own schedule. As a result, we save patients serious time and money. And that is the Prestige method advantage.