The doctor-does-it-all model isn't sustainable in the in-office environment and medicine has been moving away from it for years, shifting toward a physician-led team-based care approach. Now that same team-based approach needs to happen with telemedicine, which has exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic and ought to be maintained as a valuable tool to connect with patients once the pandemic ends.
When Johnnett Kent learned she had lung cancer, the COVID-19 pandemic was already descending on California. Her doctor didn’t want the 49-year-old to risk her health by heading into a crowded clinic between surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. So she started checking in with Kent through her smartphone. Kent was skeptical of the arrangement at first, thinking, “Can this really work?” Her Wi-Fi was glitchy and video calls froze as she tried to talk from her bed. Sometimes the internet was shut off entirely at her Burbank apartment because Kent had lost work and was short on money to pay bills.
Covid-19 has dominated the headlines for well over a year now, and it's clear that the pandemic has led to significant changes in the healthcare industry. Digital initiatives for healthcare that were once considered optional have become a vital part of the system. With this shift, opportunities have emerged for entrepreneurs to make an impact in this new landscape.
Joined by healthcare leaders and elected officials at Mount Sinai Hospital, Governor JB Pritzker today signed HB 3308 into law, increasing access to telehealth services in communities across Illinois. The new law builds upon ongoing efforts to ensure that all Illinoisans have uninterrupted access to telehealth, which they received from trusted health care providers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
As discussed in a prior blog post, effective June 25, 2021, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo issued Executive Order 210, which officially declared the end of the New York State of Emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the New York emergency telehealth waivers have expired. These telehealth waivers had previously allowed many digital health companies and health systems to utilize certain flexibilities related to the methods of allowable telehealth technologies and the use of out-of-state providers to expand services and to cover understaffed departments.
WVU Medicine Harrison Community Hospital has launched a Telestroke Program with the WVU Stroke Center providing telestroke services to patients at the hospital. The Stroke Center is a part of the WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute.