The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) and Minneapolis-based virtual care technology company Zipnosis have announced a partnership to provide a virtual healthcare platform to the AAFP's 129,000 members and their patients.
The Zipnosis virtual care platform provides an online diagnosis and treatment solution that will allow AAFP members to offer their patients convenient access to care by connecting them virtually with their family physician, officials attested in an announcement.
This partnership stemmed from the results of a 2017 AAFP member survey designed to identify new programs and services. One of the clear themes that surfaced was the demand for a virtual care service that addresses the unique needs of family physicians, according to AAFP executives. "Patients today want quick and easy access to healthcare, but that convenience shouldn't come at the cost of the relationship they have with their family physician," Steven Waldren, M.D., director of the AAFP's Alliance for eHealth Innovation, said in a statement. "Offering this new telemedicine platform gives our family physician members another tool through which they can care for patients."
Indeed, the partnership between the AAFP and Zipnosis will aim to give family physicians across the country access to a virtual care platform designed to meet their unique needs and those of their patients. The virtual care platform will offer online interview technology that allows the patient to provide symptom and health history information for diagnosis and treatment by their physician and real-time video consultations that enable the patient to remotely connect with their physician.
"We believe that ensuring family physicians can offer their patients the convenience and access of a virtual care service is critical to maximizing the value of local, personal care by embracing the benefits of today's connected, digital world," said Rebecca Hafner-Fogarty, M.D., senior vice president of policy and strategy at Zipnosis and a member of the AAFP.
The service will be available to all AAFP members later in 2018.
