There are few things more stressful than getting a serious medical diagnosis, but pandemic-era changes in virtual care are prompting more patients to obtain a second opinion without leaving home.

Why it matters: The telehealth explosion made it easier to get advice from top doctors across the country — and for health systems to grow business beyond their physical footprints and even treat some of the people seeking consultations.

Case in point: The Clinic, a joint venture between Cleveland Clinic and telehealth giant Amwell, launched in 2020 just before the pandemic began.

• The idea was to pair the Cleveland Clinic brand with Amwell’s virtual tools and its existing connections with private insurers to make it easier for patients to get their records reviewed, said Frank McGillin, CEO of The Clinic.

State of play: Patients customarily have to run the traps to get relevant health records and test results to a new doctor and may endure extended wait times, McGillin said. And on the backend, some providers still rely on large binders of physical records and scans that have to be lugged around.

• The Clinic works like a pricey concierge service that gathers records in digital form and pairs patients with a specialist who reviews the case and typically delivers a second opinion within two weeks.
• The speed and convenience can be valuable in the case of a cancer diagnosis or in a situation where the course of treatment isn’t clear. But for now, patients not referred by one of The Clinic’s insurance partners have to pay close to $2,000