WHAT IS TELEMEDICINE?

Telemedicine (or telehealth) is where healthcare providers, such as physicians and pharmacies, use electronic communications to (a) interact with you, the patient, and other providers at different locations, (b) access and share your medical information and records with other providers—all in an effort to improve quality of care. Here are some examples:

• Patient charts and “written” medical records

• Medical images

• Live two-way audio and/or video

• Output data from medical devices and sound and video files

Electronic systems used will incorporate network and software security protocols intended to preserve the patient’s confidentiality, identity, and data from loss, corruption, or unauthorized access or disclosure.

WHAT’S THE UPSIDE?

Telemedicine has a number of significant benefits to you:

• Improved healthcare quality by putting distant expert healthcare providers literally at your fingertips.

• Increased practical access to healthcare by saving your valuable time and delivering the care you need more quickly compared to traditional in-person practice.

• Improved efficiency in healthcare management and evaluations. (Apollo helps make sure that you share in these savings.)

Example: Rather than make multiple appointments and sit for hours in waiting rooms full of sick people, only to wait in line at the pharmacy, you can stay safe at home and let your clinician get your test results from the lab and consult with your pharmacist about your medication options—and have your medication delivered right to your front door.

THERE HAS TO BE A DOWNSIDE, RIGHT?

Telemedicine does have some risks, although traditional, in-person practices share most of them. Here are some examples:

• Equipment or service failures, like a website crash or Internet service outage, can delay medical evaluation and treatment. This happens. In telemedicine—and at your primary care practitioner’s office.

• Rare: Electronic transmission can degrade recording quality to the point that the practitioner cannot make the appropriate medical decision or recommendation.

• Rare: Adverse outcomes, such as drug interactions, allergic reactions, misdiagnosis, and non-diagnosis, can result from a remote provider not being able to fully assess your physical condition. You magnify this risk if you are not absolutely honest and completely thorough when you talk to your treating providers or submit healthcare information through the Site.

• Rare: These same adverse outcomes can result from a telemedicine provider lacking access to all your medical records. This risk is far from unique to telemedicine.

• Very Rare: Security protocols can fail, causing a breach of privacy of personal medical information. This applies to almost every modern physician’s office, although the degree is somewhat higher with telemedicine.

I UNDERSTAND THAT:

• Medical information confidentiality and privacy laws apply to telemedicine. No information obtained through telemedicine that identifies me may be disclosed to non-practitioner/provider third parties without my consent.

• I have the right to request an inspection of all information obtained and recorded through telemedicine, and/or to receive copies, upon my reasonable request. A reasonable fee may also be involved.

• I get to choose how I access healthcare. Telemedicine is just one of several alternative healthcare delivery methods, and I can withdraw my consent whenever I choose, knowing, however, that Apollo provides Services (as defined in the Terms and Conditions) only in connection with those healthcare services delivered through telemedicine.

• My personal medical information may be communicated to medical practitioners and other healthcare providers who may be located in other states.

• I am the only one responsible for making sure all of my healthcare providers know that I am receiving care from all the others, by telemedicine or otherwise.

• The above benefits of telemedicine are expected, but no specific results can be guaranteed or assured.

Patient Consent for Telemedicine

I have read and understand the above information, have discussed it with a clinician who has provided me with primary care within the last 6 months, and have no unanswered questions or concerns. I hereby give my informed consent to the Apollo Pharmacy Network, including licensed, affiliate networks and legally assigned clinicians, for the use of telemedicine in my medical care, diagnosis, and treatment. I understand that proceeding in agreement with this document representation of my binding signature for Informed Consent to Telemedicine, effective on the date of submission.