I made this point on the NYT website but it hasn't shown up yet, so I'll make it again here. What is the problem that these startups are trying to solve? It is

I made this point on the NYT website but it hasn't shown up yet, so I'll make it again here. What is the problem that these startups are trying to solve? It is explained in the last paragraph: Still, Mr. Kibbe said, 'part of the problem with the health care system is physicians only have a small amount of time to see patients face-to-face,' and these new tools increase their interaction. Very clearly, they claim they are trying to fix the fact that physicians only have a small amount of time to see each patient face-to-face. But that is a problem that patients, not doctors, face. Specifically, patients spend lots of time waiting around for their chance to speak with a doctor. This is because a doctor's time is (seen as) so valuable that people are willing to wait. Basically, time with a doctor is a scarce resource. Now, take a look at this from the doctor's perspective. Clinicians have optimized schedules. When they are seeing patients, they blaze through many per hour. Time is almost always being used efficiently, because there are several patients waiting for the doctor. So, this brings us back to the main problem that I have with these startups: they claim that they are trying to increase the amount of time that physicians and patients can spend face-to-face. What they are really doing is cutting down on the amount of time that patients have to waste while waiting for their doctor. Sure, this is a problem for patients, but it is not a problem for doctors - and it is certainly not one of the critical problems in the health care system today that we must resolve now. This does nothing to give doctors more time to see more patients, because most doctors are already using their time fairly optimally (with the exception of having to fill out insurance paperwork, which is not related to any of the issues addressed by these startups anyways).