The Promise and the Peril of Virtual Health Care

Telemedicine has been a hard sell in some areas.

• Many rural clinics and community hospitals fear that their already inadequate medical staffing and the revenues generated from on-site procedures will be further diminished by remote medicine.
• Old and poor patients who may need care the most can't afford smartphones or broadband connectivity.
• Until recently, many people were unaware that the service existed, while others didn't trust an anonymous doctor.
• Many people want to be in the physical presence of their physicians, believing the quality of virtual care is inferior.

Doctor's are not sold on telehealth, either.

• According to a survey, only one in three specialists thinks virtual care will benefit their practice.
• Doctors are concerned about the diagnostic and therapeutic limitations of seeing patients on a screen.
• Tele-doctors could spend more time with fewer patients for less money.

Telehealth doesn't replace the brick-and-mortar visit, but it complements it.

It's one thing to offer telecare to a patient you know, but another to diagnose during a virtual first visit. A tele-doctor who misdiagnoses a stomach ache that is indeed stomach cancer has the same liability that a traditional doctor does. Therefore, virtual doctors should tell patients whose symptoms suggest a more complicated condition to make an in-person visit to an office.

The current health-care system is not user-friendly or helpful. The average patient has to wait twenty-nine days to get a physician's appointment, and you may not initially know what it will cost you.

One of the appealing features of telehealth is that you feel comfortable in your home while having an intimate virtual encounter with your doctor. Your doctor can also solve your problem immediately for you.