WTIA and Premera introduce Teladoc

Have you ever been sick, know that you need a certain medication but don’t have the time or flexibility to spend hours going to a care facility and waiting to see a doctor? If so, you are not alone.

Over the holiday break, my 1-year-old daughter caught pink eye. This is not a life debilitating illness, but it is highly contagious and needs to be treated.

As new parents, we already had dealt with one round of pink eye when our daughter was 6 months and our experience was not positive. It took a whole day to go to a clinic, see a doctor and ultimately retrieve the prescription that we needed to treat this common illness. Both my wife and I had to take time off of work and rearrange our schedules to make this happen.

What was different about our second pink eye experience — Teladoc!

Teladoc is a new care service that is baked into all WTIA health plan offerings. This service provides participating members with the opportunity to consult with a Washington board-certified doctor via a phone call, mobile app or video-conference.

In my situation, I used the phone and received friendly and helpful support from a live Teladoc customer service representative. They connected me to a doctor and within 10 minutes of my phone call, my daughter was diagnosed with pink eye and a prescription was issued to my local pharmacy. The entire experience, including picking up the prescription, took only 1 hour.

I also saved around $150 because I was only charged a co-pay of $15 vs. having the service count against my deductible.

Now that is the type of pragmatic innovation that we should expect as 21st-century consumers of health care services. The care was faster, cheaper, more flexible while maintaining a high service level.

I share this story because I want our members and the larger tech community to know that this is the type of experience that they have access to thru the WTIA.

As the leading tech association in North America, the WTIA understands the daily challenges faced by tech professionals and is committed to implementing practical solutions that “meet our members where they are at”.