Telemedicine companies see soaring demand for online health consultations

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Telemedicine companies see soaring demand for online health consultations GlobeBusiness

, following the lead of British Columbia, opening up Canada’s most populous province for video assessments through apps such as the one Maple provides. On Tuesday, Maple began screening for COVID-19 symptoms, and added 75 physicians to its roster of 500 in recent days.The company says demand for its services has doubled each of the past three days. “It’s just been a tidal wave of cases coming at us,” chief executive officer Brett Belchetz said.

The venture arm of Telus Corp.'s has invested in many health companies, and runs similar apps called Akira and Babylon that allow users to consult with clinicians. Babylon downloads have tripled in the past week owing to the coronavirus pandemic spread, a Telus spokesperson said. The automated service, which it has made accessible for free, routes callers to public-health information offered in their regions. Dialogue says it has also seen a surge of customer interest, with 100 companies subscribing to its annual service in the past two weeks, providing access to 100,000 employees. The company had 700 customers at the end of February.

“We’ve been preaching the benefits of telemedicine” for years, Mr. Habib said. “For various reasons, we haven’t had as much traction as we would have liked from the regulators and provincial health services. I think now there’s a huge realization virtual health care has a huge role to play. That has been extremely gratifying.”While Maple usually takes a percentage of billing fees, the CEO said it has waived collection for coronavirus screening.

 

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