This semester, Student Health Services is introducing a new service allowing students to schedule and attend doctors' appointments virtually instead of going to the Center of Health and Well-Being.
Students who use this new service will be able to schedule appointments and speak with a primary care doctor from their smartphones, tablets or computers through a practice known as "telemedicine." All students enrolled at USC taking at least one credit hour are eligible for this new service as a part of their primary care.
According to the Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine, "telemedicine began in the early 1900s in the Netherlands with the transmission of heart rhythms over the telephone ... From 2012 to 2013, the telemedicine market grew by 60%."
Using the Mend Telemedicine app, students can request and schedule telemedicine appointments of their own. Just before the appointment begins, students will receive a notification with a link. Once the link is clicked, Mend creates a secure connection to share video and uses HIPAA-compliant video conferencing to enable health care providers to see students.
Assistant medical director at Student Health Services Judy Chontos said Student Health Services opted to adopt Mend instead of other telemedicine services because Mend offered a platform that allowed them to use their own staff.
“We know the quality and the training of our providers; we wanted that same quality of care in our telemedicine service line," Chontos said.
Chontos also said she believes one of the big advantages of telemedicine is access.
"There's a big need to meet patients where they are, meaning we want to have hours that are convenient for the students. We want to be able to offer them modalities of treatment that are convenient for them," she said.
Computer science student Blake Edwards said scheduling appointments through MyHealthSpace and having to wait to be seen has been a hassle for him in the past.
"I'm such a busy person and I know other people, like, we have other things to worry about," Edwards said. "Like, when I'm sick I'm not gonna want to go out of my way and wait twenty minutes in an office and then sit in there for another twenty minutes and wait for the doctor."
Medical director and physician at Student Health Services Dr. Mike McKenzie said another advantage of using the Mend Telemedicine app is convenience.
“If you figure, say, an off campus student is going to spend 15 to 20 minutes getting here, that much time finding a parking place, coming in the building, waiting to be seen; you know, it could take two hours of their time, and so we could see them in a telehealth meeting for 20 minutes," McKenzie said.
Marketing student Rebecca Wenger said Mend was a service she could potentially see herself using in the future and that it could be a useful tool for her and other students who live off campus.
"It's a lot to get here and stuff, and if it's not an extreme illness, I think it could facilitate getting, like, the right medicine or just wanting to talk," Wenger said.
The Mend app can be used to treat several conditions, ranging from seasonal allergy symptoms, medication refills, requests for referrals, colds and a variety of other symptoms and illnesses. When scheduling a telemedicine appointment, a list is provided of what is treatable through virtual appointment on the app.
“It'll ask you, 'Is it one of these things?' and 'Is it not one of these things?' so that we’re not wasting your time and, you know, frustrating you,” Chontos said.
Welcome Center coordinator Ashley Bice said Mend also allows students to include more specific symptoms when compared to MyHealthSpace.
“On Mend you can put 'I’ve had a snotty noise for three days. I've had bloody mucus,'" Bice said. "We do get some very descriptive symptoms in there, so they can put more information than what you can [in MyHealthSpace], so the doctor is more prepared for the appointment with what all your symptoms are."
Due to clinician licensing, students must be physically present in the state of South Carolina during telemedicine appointments. Appointments cost $25 for students taking six or more credit hours and $35 for students taking less than six credit hours.
Fees are billed to students through their insurance, and if their insurance doesn't cover telemedicine appointments, then fees are charged to students through their bursar account. Telemedicine appointments are included in the university-sponsored student health insurance plan.
Bice said, depending on the circumstances, virtual appointments can sometimes be cheaper than in-person appointments.
"People who are coming in for these issues — cold symptoms, things like that — they're doing more testing on sight than if you do a telemedicine appointment," Bice said. "So it ends up sometimes being less expensive than coming in."
Chontos and McKenzie both said they believe Mend will be a productive service for students in the future.
"Most folks just want to know what to do,"McKenzie said. "Some folks, you know, they're hundreds, thousands of miles away from home, they have no clue. ... They just want advice."