Yesterday, Seniors Wireless, a wireless telemedicine company, launched its telemedicine service for the 55 plus age group, teleMED Assist. The service gives seniors 24/7, unlimited access to physicians through phone or video conferencing for $1 per day.

DOTmed News had the chance to speak with Zac Swindells, CEO of Seniors Wireless, about the impact this service will have on hospitals and physician practices and the opportunities that wearable devices will bring to the service in the near future.

DOTmed New: Why did Seniors Wireless decide to charge $1 per day for the service?

Zac Swindells: At Seniors Wireless, we believe that everyone should have easy access to convenient, high-quality healthcare and good value wireless services. We know seniors are budget conscious and we wanted to make sure our teleMED Assist and wireless services were convenient and affordable for our customers.

We believe that $1 per day is easy to understand, easy to budget and more importantly easy to justify when a single visit to the emergency room can cost anywhere from $1,500 to $3,000. Seniors should never have to be placed in a situation where they forgo medical access due to cost.

DOTmed News: What impact will a service like this have on hospitals and physicians practices?

ZS: It can only improve the way that medical services are delivered and accessed. Our medical system is under strain and especially our emergency departments. With teleMED Assist we can reduce the strain, improve access, dramatically reduce response times to urgent care and moreover save costs for the system and patient.

We feel that teleMED Assist will only improve the ability for hospitals and physicians to provide quality care since seniors will be able to take care of medical issues without a visit, giving doctors and nurses more time to spend on serious issues.

Seniors who do need a referral after a teleMED Assist consultation will be coming to their appointments armed with information on their condition that will improve the doctor’s understanding of how to treat the patient. Studies have shown that 63 percent of seniors want direct access to their medical records.

DOTmed News: Have many physicians expressed interest in joining this service?

ZS: TeleMED Assist’s physician network is provided through MedCallAssist LLC, a leading telemedicine company providing remote telemedicine consultations to maritime, medevac and native villages in Alaska since 1989.

Seniors Wireless is the exclusive wireless partner with MedCallAssist, which has the ability to supply 44 U.S. states, and in 20 plus countries. Health plans, self-insured companies, worker’s compensation plans, individual families, mobile carriers, maritime and remote industries all participate in the MedCallAssist service.

DOTmed News: How will the Apple Watch and other wearables be used to enhance the service?

ZS: We are very excited about the opportunities that wearables such as Apple Watch bring to Seniors Wireless. There are tremendous possibilities and we are building supporting apps that will monitor heart rate, blood pressure, diabetes, preventive health etc., and promote healthy lifestyles.

According to the latest Accenture survey into telemedicine, two-thirds of seniors would use wearables for health monitoring. The way technology is evolving with wearables, it can only assist in proactive monitoring and reducing the load on the health care system.

They can be found at www.seniorswireless.com

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