Speaker 1: This is Pat Sulver with the Dr. Weighs In, and we're going to show you something really cool today. I have with me Dr. Peter Alperin, who is the VP of Product at Doximity, and he's the guy that knows all about their telemedicine capability, and we're going to show that today. And then I have a patient who actually also happens to be our editor of Women's Health, Anna Villarreal. So take it away, guys.

Speaker 2: Well, thank you, Pat. Hi, Anna. So today I'm going to demonstrate how the Doximity dialer video works. So I'm going to give you a call using our application, and we're going to have a quick visit. How does that sound?

Speaker 3: Great.

Speaker 2: Fabulous. All righty. So let's see here. Okay. All righty. So I'm going to dial your phone number, and I'm going to explain sort of what I'm doing as I do it so that people can follow along.

Speaker 1: Hey, Doc.

Speaker 2: Hi, Anna. How are you today?

Speaker 1: Good. How are you?

Speaker 2: I'm good. So this visit, I understand, was to talk about the lipid test that we had ordered last week.

Speaker 1: Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2: So quick question for you. So any issues that have come up in the past week at all?

Speaker 1: Nope.

Speaker 2: Okay, great. So your lipid tests show that your lipids are doing really well, and I think what we need to do is to continue on the same dose. So the statin that you're already taking, which is Simvastatin. So if it is like your preference before, I can send that prescription to the same pharmacy that you've been getting your prescriptions at before, and we can go from there. How does that sound?

Speaker 3: Amazing. Thank you.

Speaker 2: Great. Any other questions?

Speaker 3: No, I think I'm all good. This was super easy.

Speaker 2: All righty. That sounds great. Thanks so much, Anna.

Speaker 3: Thank you.

Speaker 2: Bye-bye. Bye.

Speaker 3: As a patient, because it was so easy, if I wanted my provider to be able to offer this and, you know, recommended it to them, what would be their process for signing up, and what kind of, like, cost are you looking at?

Speaker 2: So I can take the second question first. The cost part is easy. It's free. It's free for anybody who's on the Doximity network. The way the process works is you need to sign up with Doximity if you're not already a member, and then any physician or nurse practitioner or physician assistant can just immediately start using it. If you are a member of that doctor's office, so, like, a medical assistant or, you know, an RN and the like, then what you do is you sign up on what's called a care team of the sponsoring provider. So, for instance, in my office, I have a number of staff who are also members of my care team, and they're able to use the application for free as well. So the sign-up is simply signing up with Doximity. It takes about 10 minutes, and it's super easy. That's why, you know, we're reliable, we're efficient, and super easy to use.

Speaker 3: And so the only thing that the user, as the patient, needs is a smartphone and Wi-Fi.

Speaker 2: So even easier than that, so because we're sending a link, if your patient wants to receive the call and do it from their laptop, and they're able to open up that link on a laptop because they can receive text messages there, or they just cut and paste it to themselves, they're able to do the call all over a laptop. As well, it's independent of a platform, so it can open up on any browser as well as both iOS and Android.

Speaker 3: Okay. And if my doctor only has my email address, can they email me that same link? Or does it just go through text?

Speaker 2: So the initial generation of that link is via text and SMS. So we don't support the email feature so far, but that's something that we're looking into.

Speaker 3: Okay, and I guess that also negates some of the Wi-Fi because I could just use data. So really all I need.

Speaker 2: Yeah, that's exactly right. All you really need is a connection to the internet.

Speaker 3: And since you're more doctor-focused in terms of supplying them with product that allows them to, you know, better practice medicine, do you have anything that the patient should know about Doximity or anything that you want to say?

Speaker 2: Yeah, so Doximity is the largest online network of providers and physicians in the United States. Over 70% of US physicians are members and we have over, well over a million, members total if you include the nurse practitioners and physician assistants. We're a very well-respected known brand in the healthcare space. And I think the, so that should give you confidence that our products are HIPAA compliant, safe and secure. The other thing I would say just as a physician is, as a patient, you know, being on a telehealth visit is a little bit different than going into a regular doctor's office. So it's important to think about where you're sitting and the lighting that you have to make sure that that visit goes on. So as efficiently as possible, you know, think about your questions ahead of time so that you can make the most of that visit. And then if you think there's going to be a little bit of physical exam involved, make sure you wear clothing that's loose-fitting so that you can, you know, lift your arms above your head or do other various things that your physician or nurse practitioner or PA may ask you to do.

Speaker 3: Great. I mean, it's, do you think that doctors can see more patients doing virtual visits like this?

Speaker 2: I do. I think that telehealth is here to stay. Telehealth is something that has been around actually for a long time. Many of these companies have had services and have been able to provide this for well over five years, close to 10 years. But it had, it was making kind of slow but somewhat substantial gains. But really the recent COVID epidemic has completely shifted things where some offices were as high as 50-60% of their visits via telehealth. But I think as the, as the pandemic abates, which we all of course hope it will do and quickly, I think telehealth is actually going to be a significant portion going forward of many physicians' practices because I think patients have realized how valuable it is to be able to reach their physician very quickly and in a much more flexible way. And I think physicians have learned that this is a way that they can handle a certain type of visit, particularly follow-up visits with well-established patients or new patients who have maybe they're trying, they're having an initial evaluation of. They can do a lot over the telehealth visit that they may not have realized that they could do. And to your point, yes, I think there will be the opportunity to see more patients. You know, think, think of specialists as well who can perhaps provide services to patients in underserved areas that maybe don't have, you know, highly specialized care available to them at their local hospital.

Speaker 3: Yeah, and are there any medications that are sort of off limits from a, from a virtual office visit? I know like in the past, antidepressants have been sort of off limits. Is that still the case or has that changed or?

Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it's a good question. So there's certainly nothing that is medically off limits because in sort of a wholesale, in an absolute way, I should say. If you are very, if you know the patient very well and you've had recent visits with them, for instance, as you're talking about, for instance, opiate medications, which obviously are very controlled and have to be very carefully considered, if you've met, if all of the sort of local requirements, depending on your state and municipality have been met, then a video visit very well may meet those. It's very localized, but if it's a brand new patient, for instance, that you've never met before, then the physician may be a little bit more reluctant. It just, it really just depends on a case-by-case scenario.

Speaker 3: And then kind of my last question, just as I think about how I would use this as a patient, can you see everything, like if I have a skin problem, a rash or something, are you able to get a pretty good look at it? Or is that something that would require me to come into the office?

Speaker 2: Yeah, great question. It really, again, like most things in medicine, it depends. So if it is something like a rash and it's relatively clear-cut and crisp, and there's good lighting, like I mentioned before, and as a patient, you're able to, you know, manipulate your phone so that you can take very good pictures that are in focus, then you very easily could be able, be able to be prescribed. You know, a definitive treatment based on that visit. On the other hand, if the lighting is bad or you're not able to provide those, those clues to the physician, then it could be, you know, a little bit more difficult and require an in-person visit. It really is all over the map. It just depends on that particular clinical circumstance.

Speaker 3: And so as the patient, would you, how worth is it to kind of like try to do the virtual visit? And if it doesn't work, schedule an in-person or is that a big waste of time on the doctor's end? So if I...

Speaker 2: That's not, that's not necessarily a big waste of time on the physician's end. I think, I think it's something that I think you can try. And I think physicians are now, frankly, much more willing to go that route than they may have been, you know, three months ago.

Speaker 3: Well, great. Well, thanks for taking the time out of your busy day to meet with us. And I think that's kind of it on my end. I'll put together a video for us. And show how easy it is for the patient to use as well.

Speaker 2: Hey, thank you so much for the opportunity. We're really excited about this. And like I said, our goal is to help providers have a more efficient way of practicing medicine. And if anything we can do to do that just is the reason that we're here.