The history of technology is not a series of giant leaps; it is a smooth process of adding minor improvements. Even the late Neil Armstrong’s “giant leap for mankind” in 1969 was the culmination of several decades of incremental progress in rocketry, computing, telemetry, and a dozen other technologies. The same is true for the technology that is driving the current boom in telemedicine. The basic unit of telemedicine, the telephone, was invented over 140 years ago. However, even the telephone system was built on the back of the pre-existing telegraph network. By the time television was developed much later, the

Telemedicine is defined most simply as the remote provision of health services using a combination of information technology and telecommunication. This combination allows healthcare providers and patients to connect using digital tools for distant medical consulting, assessment, diagnosis, health-related education, and even treatment. One of the most critical advantages of telemedicine is the positive financial incentive for both healthcare providers and patients. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, telemedicine has become fundamental to healthcare delivery. Furthermore, longstanding problems in the healthcare system, including high costs, poor access to care, and unequal distribution of providers, can be solved using telemedicine. Benefits for

Since the invention of the telephone, patients, and physicians have been calling one another. For most of the 140 years since Alexander Graham Bell, physicians did not even think of charging patients or insurance companies for advice given over the phone. Charges were reserved for in-person, hands-on, in closed rooms, first in patients’ homes and later in the physicians’ offices. The advent of the smartphone changed all that. In only a few years, the smartphone opened a world of possibilities beyond Mr. Bell’s wildest imaginings. Today, this nearly ubiquitous device can be used to substitute for most of the traditional office visits,

Telemedicine is not a new concept; nevertheless, it took the COVID-19 crisis to generate widespread interest in telemedicine. In early 2020 there were widespread shutdowns of physicians’ offices and outpatient clinics and emptying of hospital wards and emergency rooms, even as intensive care units remained busy caring for severely ill patients. Telemedicine entered to fill the gaps left by empty examination rooms. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, systems that had once performed 50 virtual visits per day started seeing 3000 patients per day by April 2020. Medical and Surgery outpatient clinics that had performed fewer than 1% percent

In 2017, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the first prescribable digital therapies to treat disease, in this case, substance abuse. In early 2021, a health intelligence platform offered to manage pharmacy benefits for these digital therapies. This move meant that physicians could now prescribe a cellphone application to their patients, and insurance companies could pay for the prescription. The Tip of the Iceberg The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the roll-out of virtual office visits and consultations. There is only a short step between virtual patient-physician encounters and the prescription of digital therapies. Behavioral health, including mental health and substance abuse, was a

Telemedicine is defined as the practice of medicine using electronic communications where the patient and the provider are in different locations. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, there was very little telemedicine practiced in the US. Of course, physicians and patients have talked on the telephone since its invention. Some insurance companies even had policies designed to reimburse physicians for time spent on the phone, particularly for coordinating care for patients with complex problems. Nevertheless, most ‘old-fashioned’ telemedicine was delivered for free. Beginning early in 2021, lawmakers, policymakers, third-party payers, and health systems scrambled to implement (or, in some cases, ramp up) telemedicine

Throughout the history of medicine, there have been two recurring themes: change and resistance to change. Changes in medicine came in the form of scientific advances such as the germ theory of disease, which resulted in the discovery of antibiotics and sterile techniques in surgery. Other changes were technological, from the invention of the microscope, the stethoscope, and the x-ray. Resistance to change came in the form of skeptical doctors who were slow to accept that microbes could cause disease. Others doubted that x-rays were any better than a doctor’s physical examination skills. When the internet came along, bringing telemedicine with

Telemedicine is defined as any doctor–patient encounter that occurs via electronic means. The technology supporting telemedicine has been around for years; then it became essential in early 2020, and telemedicine became a household activity. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, typical healthcare systems provided 50 virtual visits per day. Beginning in March 2020, that number spiked to over 3000 per day. Outpatient offices that had previously billed fewer than 1% of their visits as virtual encounters suddenly started performing over 90% of the visits electronically. Telemedicine During the COVID-19 Pandemic When it became clear that stemming the spread of the disease would involve social distancing