According to University of Rochester doctors who head a telemedicine program designed to diagnose and treat common childhood symptoms, more than one in four kids may be able to avoid a visit to the emergency room if they can visit a doctor online instead.
They reviewed pediatric visits to a large emergency room in Rochester, NY during 2006 and found 28 percent of trips didn't necessarily qualify as true emergencies.
Those included ear infections and sore throats.
Another study by the research team estimates telemedicine might save more than 14-dollars per child in medical costs each year -- not to mention the time saved by skipping a trip to the hospital

And in other medical news…
A new study suggests teens who live in towns with laws that ban smoking in restaurants appear to be less likely to become smokers.
Over the course of 4 years nearly 10-percent of teens who lived in areas that simply restricted smoking became established smokers. That's compared with nearly 8-percent of teens in towns that had complete smoking bans in restaurants