Specialists from leading medical centres are charging patients US$600 per case for second opinions over the Internet.
The Internet initiative launched about a month ago by US-based Partners HealthCare System covers 27 states and 40 countries. So far, doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital have weighed in on three cases in conjunction with the patients' local doctors, said Joseph Kvedar, director of telemedicine at Partners HealthCare.
Partners HealthCare, which runs one of the nation's largest telemedicine departments, hopes to expand the service to most of the 50 states and throughout the world, Kvedar said.
The base US$600 fee gets a patient a consultation from a specialist, a radiologist and pathologist. About 50 patients have registered for a consultation at the Web site -- econsults.partners.org/
As many as 6000 specialists, including doctors in a joint venture between Partners and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, are available to render an opinion on anything from heart disease to rare illnesses such as sarcoma.
Patients will have to pay out of their own pocket because insurance companies do not cover the Internet consultations, Kvedar said.
