EP 11: What telemedicine has taught us during the pandemic, and will it continue?
The coronavirus pandemic’s impact on our health care system may be seen in more ways than in how we’ve treated people with COVID-19.
Since March, routine care, scheduled surgeries and wellness exams have been put mostly on hold or done via teleconferencing. But many primary care physicians, who are at the front lines of care, fear for the future of their practices because of the dramatic drop in patient visits.
On this episode of “Life, Community, and COVID-19,” hosts Maiken Scott of WHYY in Philadelphia and Brian Ellison of KCUR in Kansas City discuss what the future of health care may look like.
Will physicians continue using telemedicine? How will this affect the future of the medical profession? What should patients expect of their doctors’ visits?
In addition to callers, you’ll hear from:
Dr. Neda Frayha, internist and primary care physician in Baltimore and host of the Primary Care Reviews and Perspectives podcast for Hippo Education. She talks about the changes she’s seen in routine care, the pros and cons of telemedicine, and the challenges she sees ahead.
Shantell Williams, who recently had weight reduction surgery and receives much of her care at Truman Medical Center in Kansas City. Her experience has been good so far, but surgery is now a different experience.
Dr. Catricia Tilford, Pediatrician at Samuel U. Rodgers Health Clinic in Kansas City. She’s talks about how her clinic continues to serve a population that already had barriers to health care access.
Raina Merchant, director of Penn Medicine Center for Digital Health. She talks about the need to innovate going forward: "We have a good sense of good bedside manner, but we don't have a good sense of good web-side manner."
Audio diaries by Andrea Tudhope from people personally impacted by COVID-19, featuring: Erica Hall of Georgia, Robert Baxter of Oklahoma, Nikole Amador of Miami and Jacob Allsbrooks from Kansas.
You can also follow the conversation on our Twitter thread below.
This show was produced by Lindsay Lazarski of WHYY and Suzanne Hogan of KCUR.