SCOTTSDALE, AZ – Employers with self-funded health plans have a common enemy: The emergency room.

ER visits are often costly, and in many case unnecessary. According to Alan Roga, MD, a practicing ER doctor for 17 years, close to 55 percent of the 114 million ER visits in 2006 were for non-emergencies – “acute, inconvenient and episodic” cases that, while urgent to the patient, could have been handled in a much less intensive and expensive manner.

That’s where Stat Health comes in.

Incorporated in July 2009 and officially launched in February, the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based eHealth service created by Stat Health Services aims to replace the ER visit with an Internet-based housecall. Roga, the company’s CEO and chairman, says STAT DOCTORS is being marketed as a supplemental benefit for the self-insured marketplace.

“Every time an employee goes to the ER, the employer is paying for it,” he said. “This gives them an alternative, while also improving ER throughput and efficiency.”

According to Roga, Stat Health contracts with ER physicians for online consultations. The service, accessible at home or at work through a personal computer or mobile device, offers secure single sign-on, a virtual waiting room, e-visits, and access to electronic medical records and e-prescribing services.

“We’ve basically replicated a doctor-patient encounter,” he said.

Roga is quick to point out that the service is neither a wellness tool nor a triage system – it’s designed to take care of medical conditions that can be treated through an online doctor’s visit rather than an ER visit. “What we are is a replacement for simple things,” he said.

Last December, Stat Health contracted with Scottsdale Healthcare to offer STAT DOCTORS as a supplemental health and wellness benefit for the community-based healthcare provider’s 10,000 covered lives.

“With STAT DOCTORS, our health plan participants will have the convenience of online access to board-certified emergency physicians for care of common minor medical conditions, anytime of the day or night,” said Carol Henderson, senior vice president and chief talent officer for the healthcare provider, which, with three hospitals, cancer center and several ambulatory facilities, is Scottsdale’s largest employer. “We believe this will be a popular benefit that our employees will take advantage of when they need care.”

More recently, Casa Grande Regional Medical Center, a 187-bed community hospital that serves Casa Grande, Ariz., and several Pinal County emergency service providers, began to offer STAT DOCTORS to its 3,000 employees and covered dependents. Hospital officials said the free service should benefit employees suffering from sports injuries, arthritic pain, insect bites, urinary tract infections, rashes, vomiting, diarrhea, allergies, colds and flu, “pink eye” and acute medical conditions like asthma and bronchitis.

“It’s a powerful tool for engaging in earlier health intervention and getting our valuable employees back on their feet sooner so they can continue to provide the highest quality care for our community,” said Rona Curphy, the medical center’s president and CEO.