American Well to offer online visits nationwide

After securing agreements in two states earlier this year, Boston-based physician-visit website American Well has announced plans to expand its services nationwide.

OptumHealth, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group that offers auxiliary healthcare services to 60 million employers and other customers, intends to offer American Well visits via two-way video, text chat, phone, its own website, or a corporation's health portal on a state-by-state basis starting late in 2009.

OptumHealth will ask physicians to provide online visits in hopes of building a large enough network that consumers will be able to connect to their own doctor or an affiliated primary care physician online. Eventually, the company expects to provide physicians with patients' claims history and pharmacy and lab data (with patient permission) to serve as a medical record during online encounters. There was no word about reimbursement, but other American Well participating physicians report receiving $35 per maximum 10-minute visit.