News from the health care marketplace includes changes in how doctors practice -- they are increasingly seeing patients via webcam and working for insurers in insurer-run doctor offices.
The Wall Street Journal: Doctors Move To Webcams
Virtual doctor visit services -- which connect patients from their homes with physicians whom they meet via online video or phone -- are moving into the mainstream, as insurers and employers are increasingly willing to pay for them (Wilde Mathews, 12/20).
NPR: When The Doctor Works For The Insurance Company
Some insurance companies are taking a page out of their own history books: running their own doctors' offices and clinics. Though the strategy previously had mixed results, insurers think that by providing primary care for patients, they might reduce costly diseases and hospital stays in the long run (Samuelson, 12/21).
The health law is also a boon for some technology companies --