Telehealth is bridging the Access to Care gap

I am sure many if not all readers have had at least one experience in which they could not receive care within a timeframe they felt was appropriate. As an outpatient primary care provider myself, I feel that it is part of my job when making a referral is to expectation manage the time it may take to see a specialist. One expert, Bill Siwicki, writes in his article, Why Telemedicine Must Play a Central Role in Solving the Specialist Shortage, about how one company is addressing this need. The company he discusses, Summus Global, is trying to bridge this gap via telemedicine by reducing wait types, overcoming geographic boundaries, and reducing overall medical costs.

Summus Global is not the only company shaking up the access to care game though. Summer Health is an emerging company that is currently focused on getting parents in contact with pediatricians. In the video below their CEO talks about how their goal is to increase accessibility so parents can even consult on smaller items such nutritious lunches to pack for school or how to address separation anxiety. This could afford parents much more confidence and reduce stress when it comes to caring for their young children.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kucjevw6zTo

Another exciting feature to the advances of telemedicine is having doctors consult where they are not physically at. I was surprised to see that Stanford managed to successfully do this in the emergency department fast track, which as a writer who has spent hundreds of hours in the Emergency Department I am stunned it wasn't approached sooner. In the model they describe the inclusion criteria as the lower acuity patients, but these patients are still receiving all of the appropriate tests and care by the staff that are physically present.

The above advances are a great step forward for people hoping to get seen in a timely manner. The first two show that it is possible to reduce costs and save time while still being able to receive high quality consultation. The final example from Stanford flips the script, and allows healthcare providers to assess patients in a novel way which will save time while still meeting all care metrics. I look forward to seeing this area of healthcare grow.