Zoey Agle
I recently had my first experience with telemedicine when I met with my doctor over FaceTime. Telemedicine is the use of electronic communication to receive health-related services remotely. I had scheduled my appointment before California’s shelter-in-place order was announced. Being that this was a routine follow-up, I didn’t feel like I was missing much by not getting to see my doctor face-to-face in an exam room. Although telemedicine isn’t a new system, many people including patients and doctors, are finding themselves using online health services for the first time. Telemedicine has had to grow rapidly to meet the new demand caused by social-distancing measures, and with it have come both criticism and hope.
Before the pandemic, telemedicine was an available practice, but it was not used often. Medicare had strict rules regarding its use, only allowing rural patients to utilize it at local clinics, not their homes. (Kocher 2020). There were also some barriers keeping telemedicine from being a good option for patients to get care from their doctors compared to in-person visits. However, with recent social-distancing measures and shelter-in-place orders, these barriers have been minimized (Olson 2020). Medicare has begun treating telemedicine appointments the same way they would in-person ones, and insurance companies are waiving copays (Kocher 2020).
Though having doctor's appointments over video call is helping keep patients and providers from getting sick, there are some issues. One issue that has arisen is the privacy of these appointments. Maintaining privacy and confidentiality with patients is critical in health care. In fact, HIPAA is a law that protects patients’ health information, and violating the rules set by HIPAA can result in medical practitioners paying fines, losing their licenses, and serving jail sentences. Though there are programs, like TelaDoc and MDLive, which specialize in telemedicine, and thus have stricter privacy standards, services like FaceTime, Skype, and Zoom have been given temporary approval to be used for video appointments (Kocher 2020). Zoom, in particular, is getting a lot of attention for privacy issues. Trolls are crashing meetings, bugs are creating vulnerabilities for hackers to access webcams, and private videos are getting stored in easy to access online databases (Hussain 2020). Zoom is fighting to keep up, continuously updating their software as new issues get noticed.
In addition to privacy issues, there are several other potential problems that patients and doctors may face with the use of telemedicine. For example, with appointments over video calls, doctors cannot do the physical exams that may be necessary to diagnose and treat. Physicians are trained heavily in the context of in-person exams, so there is a learning curve to develop telemedicine etiquette and diagnose remotely. To provide their physicians with basic vitals, some patients will be required to take their own heart rate and blood pressure (Olson 2020). These are tasks that may require some practice, but could be beneficial skills to have in their repertoire. Moreover, patients without access to a stable internet connection at home would be at a disadvantage. Although appointments can be conducted over the phone, that may further impede the doctor's ability to properly assess the patient’s condition.
Despite these potential problems, there are also benefits to telemedicine. While doctors may not be able to conduct physical exams, they do have the opportunity to see the patient’s living environment. Therefore, they can gauge whether the patient has access to safe housing and food, as well as whether there may be any potential dangers where they live (Kocher 2020). Doctors can also get to know their patients a bit better. For example, an internist in Flagstaff, Arizona got to see one of his patient’s artworks for the first time, after having known they were an artist for years (Olson 2020). Telemedicine also introduces an ease that permits doctors to see patients more quickly and more regularly. This can help increase the amount of time physicians spend with patients, and also potentially decrease ER visits if patients can get help early, before a condition worsens (Kocher 2020).
Though the COVID-19 pandemic caused doctors and patients to be thrown into a perhaps underdeveloped telemedicine system, everyone is quickly adjusting to the switch. The necessity for remote doctor's appointments has allowed for any flaws with telemedicine to be brought to attention and dealt with to optimize the now crucial practice. As people get more used to the constantly improving system, it is possible they may not want to give it up even once normalcy resumes in the United States. Until then, it won’t be possible to know whether telemedicine will become a permanent fixture in everyday health care, but it certainly looks promising.
Works Cited:
Hussain, S. 2020. Is Zoom safe to use? Here’s what you need to know [Internet]. LA Times; [cited 2020 April 18]. Available from https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2020-04-13/is-zoom-safe-to-use-heres-what- you-need-to-know
Kocher, B. 2020. COVID-19 is normalizing telehealth, and that’s a good thing [Internet]. Fast Company; [cited 2020 April 18]. Available from https://www.fastcompany.com/90490988/covid-19-is-normalizing-telehealth-and-thats-a-good-th ing
Olson, K. 2020. Telemedicine brings new challenges and rewards to Flagstaff doctors [Internet]. Arizona Daily Sun; [cited 2020 April 18]. Available from https://azdailysun.com/news/local/telemedicine-brings-new-challenges-and-rewards-to-flagstaff- doctors/article_fdb2de67-f72d-5567-9321-d1594487719f.html
Cover Image: Hassan, M. 2018. Webinar conferencing video beverage call cam chat [Internet]. Pixabay; [cited 2020 April 18]. Available from https://pixabay.com/illustrations/webinar-conferencing-video-beverage-3199164/
Before the pandemic, telemedicine was an available practice, but it was not used often. Medicare had strict rules regarding its use, only allowing rural patients to utilize it at local clinics, not their homes. (Kocher 2020). There were also some barriers keeping telemedicine from being a good option for patients to get care from their doctors compared to in-person visits. However, with recent social-distancing measures and shelter-in-place orders, these barriers have been minimized (Olson 2020). Medicare has begun treating telemedicine appointments the same way they would in-person ones, and insurance companies are waiving copays (Kocher 2020).
Though having doctor's appointments over video call is helping keep patients and providers from getting sick, there are some issues. One issue that has arisen is the privacy of these appointments. Maintaining privacy and confidentiality with patients is critical in health care. In fact, HIPAA is a law that protects patients’ health information, and violating the rules set by HIPAA can result in medical practitioners paying fines, losing their licenses, and serving jail sentences. Though there are programs, like TelaDoc and MDLive, which specialize in telemedicine, and thus have stricter privacy standards, services like FaceTime, Skype, and Zoom have been given temporary approval to be used for video appointments (Kocher 2020). Zoom, in particular, is getting a lot of attention for privacy issues. Trolls are crashing meetings, bugs are creating vulnerabilities for hackers to access webcams, and private videos are getting stored in easy to access online databases (Hussain 2020). Zoom is fighting to keep up, continuously updating their software as new issues get noticed.
In addition to privacy issues, there are several other potential problems that patients and doctors may face with the use of telemedicine. For example, with appointments over video calls, doctors cannot do the physical exams that may be necessary to diagnose and treat. Physicians are trained heavily in the context of in-person exams, so there is a learning curve to develop telemedicine etiquette and diagnose remotely. To provide their physicians with basic vitals, some patients will be required to take their own heart rate and blood pressure (Olson 2020). These are tasks that may require some practice, but could be beneficial skills to have in their repertoire. Moreover, patients without access to a stable internet connection at home would be at a disadvantage. Although appointments can be conducted over the phone, that may further impede the doctor's ability to properly assess the patient’s condition.
Despite these potential problems, there are also benefits to telemedicine. While doctors may not be able to conduct physical exams, they do have the opportunity to see the patient’s living environment. Therefore, they can gauge whether the patient has access to safe housing and food, as well as whether there may be any potential dangers where they live (Kocher 2020). Doctors can also get to know their patients a bit better. For example, an internist in Flagstaff, Arizona got to see one of his patient’s artworks for the first time, after having known they were an artist for years (Olson 2020). Telemedicine also introduces an ease that permits doctors to see patients more quickly and more regularly. This can help increase the amount of time physicians spend with patients, and also potentially decrease ER visits if patients can get help early, before a condition worsens (Kocher 2020).
Though the COVID-19 pandemic caused doctors and patients to be thrown into a perhaps underdeveloped telemedicine system, everyone is quickly adjusting to the switch. The necessity for remote doctor's appointments has allowed for any flaws with telemedicine to be brought to attention and dealt with to optimize the now crucial practice. As people get more used to the constantly improving system, it is possible they may not want to give it up even once normalcy resumes in the United States. Until then, it won’t be possible to know whether telemedicine will become a permanent fixture in everyday health care, but it certainly looks promising.
Works Cited:
Hussain, S. 2020. Is Zoom safe to use? Here’s what you need to know [Internet]. LA Times; [cited 2020 April 18]. Available from https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2020-04-13/is-zoom-safe-to-use-heres-what- you-need-to-know
Kocher, B. 2020. COVID-19 is normalizing telehealth, and that’s a good thing [Internet]. Fast Company; [cited 2020 April 18]. Available from https://www.fastcompany.com/90490988/covid-19-is-normalizing-telehealth-and-thats-a-good-th ing
Olson, K. 2020. Telemedicine brings new challenges and rewards to Flagstaff doctors [Internet]. Arizona Daily Sun; [cited 2020 April 18]. Available from https://azdailysun.com/news/local/telemedicine-brings-new-challenges-and-rewards-to-flagstaff- doctors/article_fdb2de67-f72d-5567-9321-d1594487719f.html
Cover Image: Hassan, M. 2018. Webinar conferencing video beverage call cam chat [Internet]. Pixabay; [cited 2020 April 18]. Available from https://pixabay.com/illustrations/webinar-conferencing-video-beverage-3199164/
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