More doctors treating patients by text message

The state of play: For millions of Americans, chats have a chance to limit expensive emergency room visits, improve care access and encourage more patients to keep tabs on their health.

• Health Affairs published a survey in 2018 from the American Medical Association that found a small number of physicians (about 15%) have used telemedicine.
• Still, the companies that primarily provide the services, CirrusMD, 98point6 and K Health, are increasingly going mainstream.
• Walmart’s Sam’s Club, for instance, announced in September that 98point6 visits are included in a care program it's testing, per AP.

Go deeper: Telemedicine has enabled new forms of Medicaid fraud