Many people make physician appointments or visit emergency rooms because of the real or perceived belief that they need to speak to a physician to find out health information. For instance: How much diarrhea is considered serious enough to see a physician? Can you take acetaminophen (Tylenol) and aspirin together? I shook hands with an AIDS patient; I need an AIDS test, don't I? These are just a few examples of the kind of situations in which Dial-a-Doc™ can help a caller avoid an unnecessary visit to a health care provider or schedule an unnecessary laboratory test. The Dial-a-Doc™ card is like a health care security blanket in the caller's pocket. Health care providers and administrators know that many physician visits just help the patient feel secure.

20% to 49% of drugs prescribed are inappropriate. Dial-a-Doc™ is in a position to decrease the potential for adverse drug reaction by effectively communicating with consumers on drug utilization and costs, increasing the potential for better compliance and increasing the value to the caller.

Nearly 25% of U.S. residents 65 years or older receive prescriptions for drugs that could have dangerous side effects or aren't needed. Between 20% and 24% of all hospital admissions of patients over age 65 are drug related. Dial-a-Doc™ can help older people understand how to best use drugs and reduce the potential side effects.

Dial-a-Doc™ can play an integral part of health care cost sharing. It is estimated that one-half of the admissions to hospitals and 15% to 30% of procedures performed are unnecessary. Dial-a-Doc™ can steer the callers to help them find the proper setting, creating peace of mind while saving money in the process.