A new type of house call

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James Neiss/staff photographer MOVING FORWARD: Mount St. Mary’s President and Chief Executive Officer Judith A. Maness, right, chats with Dr. Roy Schoenberg, chief executive officer of American Well Systems, before a demonstration of the new Mount St. Mary’s Online Care service.
James Neiss/staff photographer Dr. Philip Sauvageau, a primary care physician at Mount St. Mary’s, is shown on a computer screen during a demonstration of the hospital’s new Online Care service.

September 16, 2011

Mount St. Mary’s announces new online program for patients

By Michele Deluca Niagara Gazette The Niagara Gazette Fri Sep 16, 2011, 11:14 PM EDT

LOCKPORT — Doctors who make house calls are available once again in the Niagara Region, but only if the patient has access to a computer.

The old fashioned service once provided by a doctor at the front door has been replaced by a doctor on a computer monitor at Mount St. Mary’s Hospital in Lewiston.

The new service, called Online Care, was introduced at a press conference earlier this week at the hospital.

“We are really trying to take technology and do something traditional,” said Roy Schoenberg, CEO of American Well Systems, which has partnered with BlueCross BlueShield of WNY to provide the software service at Mount St. Mary’s.

Dr. Philip Sauvageau, a hospital primary care physician who has been “seeing” patients via the online program for the past month, said the system works nicely, noting that with the online program, patients are more likely to seek care. “It’s been very positive,” he added. “The patients are happy.”

Hospital officials lauded the online program, available through the hospital website at msmh.org.

‘With a tool like this, you eliminate so many wasteful, redundant processes,” said Cynthia Eberl, director of physician outreach for HealthNow/Blue Cross and Blue Shield of WNY, which owns the program license in WNY. The program will play a key role in addressing the current physician shortage, Eberl added.

The program will be available 72 hours a week, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays. Patients will be able to click on the link on the Mount St. Mary’s website msmonlinecare.org, and select a physician for immediate online care. The patient can select either a face-to-face video format or a digital chat where doctor and patient type questions and answers to each other. A 10-minute visit with a physician costs $45, but is not yet covered by any health care plans, including those of the license holder, BlueCross BlueShield. The matter of coverage is still being researched by the health care provider, Eberl said, but the program was debuted prior to the decision to cover the cost because “We believe we have a role in making health care accessible and affordable.”

The health care provider is expected to eventually cover the cost of online consults, she added. “This is something we would like to make available as part of our care benefits,” she said.

While officials at the press conference agreed it is often advantageous to see a physician in person, several pointed out that some ailments can be easily treated with an online physician. Conditions such as headaches, respiratory infections and even insomnia can be treated online, and a doctor can immediately send a script to the patients pre-registered pharmacy. The patient also gets a complete record of the conversation and the doctor’s recommendations.

While Sauvageau has been seeing patients online for about a month, most were pre-arranged follow-up visits with patients he had seen in his family practice clinic at the hospital. The program will also allow those who are not registered to receive immediate care online.

“We have a group of physicians and we have scheduled them to be available,” said Judith Maness, the hospital CEO. “We hope more and more (doctors) will see that this fits in nicely with the way they do work.”

Those who think they might use the service are encouraged to pre-register by calling the online care coordinator at 298-2383 or checking out the self-help videos at msmonlinecare.org.

Contact Features Editor Michele DeLuca at

282-2311, ext. 2263.

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