Why I Love Asynchronous Healthcare (And Would Happily Never Make Another Phone Call Again)

Lovely to see you, this could have been an email.

I have a confession to make.

I am a healthcare provider who would personally prefer not to speak to anyone on the phone.

Ever.

Okay, that's dramatic. But only slightly.

I love my patients. I genuinely enjoy getting to know you, hearing your stories and helping you figure out what's going on. But me, as a patient?

Please just let me fill out a form and send you a message.

Don't make me call at 8:05 a.m. Don't make me sit on hold. Don't give me a four-hour window when someone might call. And please don't make me arrange my entire day around a five-minute video appointment.

This is one of the reasons I'm so excited to introduce asynchronous eConsults at Aviva Medical.

Healthcare that doesn't require being somewhere at a specific time

I'm a mom. I work. I run a business. My calendar is constantly changing, and there are approximately 47 things happening in my brain at any given moment.

If I need healthcare for something relatively straightforward, the last thing I want is another appointment in my calendar.

Tuesday at 2:15?

Great. I'll spend the entire day remembering that I have something at 2:15.

And somehow, despite thinking about it since breakfast, I'll still realize at 2:13 that I'm supposed to be somewhere quiet with good Wi-Fi.

This is precisely why asynchronous healthcare makes so much sense to me.

What does “asynchronous” actually mean?

Basically, we don't have to be available at the same time.

You complete your medical questionnaire when it works for you. You can provide the details of what's going on and, when appropriate, upload photos or supporting documents.

I review everything you send me and respond through the secure patient portal.

There is no scheduled phone call and no scheduled video appointment.

You don't have to be sitting beside your phone waiting for me.

And I don't have to rush through your information because another patient is waiting in a virtual waiting room.

Honestly? I think that's pretty great for both of us.

But don't you want to talk to your patients?

Of course!

There are absolutely situations where a conversation is important. There are also medical concerns that simply cannot be appropriately assessed through an asynchronous appointment.

But there are plenty of healthcare interactions where the important part isn't that we're looking at each other on a screen.

The important part is that I have the information I need to properly assess your concern.

If you need a refill of a medication you've taken for years, for example, you may not particularly want to spend part of your workday sitting in a virtual waiting room just so we can say:

“Still taking it?”

“Yep.”

“Any problems?”

“Nope.”

“Great.”

Lovely to see you, obviously.

But this could have been an email.

I actually like communicating in writing

This is another reason asynchronous care appeals to me personally.

Give me an email or a text message over a phone call any day.

Written communication lets me read something when I have the capacity to actually pay attention to it. I can think about my response. I can go back and check what was said.

And as a patient, I like being able to explain what I need without trying to remember everything while someone waits for me to answer.

You know that moment when a healthcare provider asks, “Anything else?”

Suddenly I have never had a medical problem in my entire life.

Then I remember the thing I actually wanted to ask approximately 14 seconds after the appointment ends.

With an online questionnaire, you can take a minute. Think about it. Check the name of your medication. Look up when your symptoms actually started. Upload the photo you meant to show me.

That can be genuinely useful information.

Convenience doesn't mean lower-quality care

I think this distinction is important.

Asynchronous healthcare isn't about rushing through healthcare.

It's about recognizing that not every healthcare interaction needs to happen in real time.

For appropriate concerns, I can review the information you've submitted, look through your medical history, consider your symptoms and decide what makes sense without requiring you to be sitting on the other side of a screen while I do it.

Sometimes the outcome may be a treatment recommendation or prescription.

Sometimes I may need more information.

And sometimes the answer will be: This actually needs to be assessed in person.

That's still healthcare.

The format may be more convenient, but the responsibility to provide appropriate care doesn't change.

I built the kind of healthcare experience I would want to use

That's probably the simplest explanation for why I value this model.

I want healthcare to fit into people's lives instead of people's lives having to fit around healthcare.

If I'm dealing with something straightforward, I want to be able to submit it after I've put my kids to bed, while I'm having my morning coffee or during the ten mysterious minutes when nobody currently needs anything from me.

I want to explain what I need.

I want someone qualified to review it.

And then I want to receive a thoughtful response that I can read when I'm ready.

No waiting room.

No phone tag.

No awkward video call from my car because that was somehow the only private place I could find.

Just healthcare.

Asynchronous eConsults are now available at Aviva Medical

For appropriate, non-urgent health concerns, patients can now request an asynchronous Nurse Practitioner eConsult online.

You'll complete a secure questionnaire and provide any additional information, photos or documents required for your concern. I'll review your submission and respond through the secure patient portal.

No appointment time. No phone call. No video visit.

Of course, if you're someone who loves a good phone call, I respect you.

I don't understand you.

But I respect you.

For the rest of us?