New McLane Children's video visit program allows patients to connect with doctor from their home

McLane Children's, part of Baylor Scott & White Health, is piloting a new video visit program that allows patients who live far from the hospital to see their physician from the comfort of their own home. The program has successfully completed video visits with patients as far away as West Texas and the Rio Grande Valley.

"The ability to follow patients and their families dealing with a disease such as diabetes right into their very living rooms empowers and motivates them in ways too numerous to mention," says Stephen Ponder, MD, pediatric endocrinologist. "Cost savings and convenience for families is blended with quality care to provide a unique encounter for children and their parents living hundreds of miles away."

The pilot began in early June and is limited to established patients that meet specific clinic criteria, have an active MyChart account (the hospital's online patient portal), Internet access and a computer with a camera. Prior to the video visit, the patient's family is given detailed instructions on how to log-in and access the video. The provider hosts the visit through a computer in the McLane Children's Specialty Clinic in Temple, visiting with the family remotely from the comfort of their home.

"Video Visits are the future of medicine," says Ashis Barad, MD, pediatric gastroenterologist. "We can serve patients with better availability, better convenience, and better efficiency. Nothing will take the place of an in-person doctor to patient visit or examination, but a video visit can make that in- office visit much more productive for routine follow ups and quick questions that may come up."

In its initial stages, the video visit program currently includes gastroenterology and endocrinology, but McLane Children's leaders hope to expand to additional specialties in the near future.

"This is a fantastic use of technology to efficiently and effectively provide on-going care to our patients," says John Boyd, MD, president and chief medical officer of McLane Children's. "This is especially important for our sub-specialists whose patients are located throughout the 30,000 square miles that Baylor Scott & White Health covers in the Central Texas. We can envision that with this technology we can expand our geographic service area throughout Texas and beyond."