As doctors gradually shift priorities to provide care with an emphasis on value over volume, the ability to expand care boundaries to meet patient needs will be critical. To that end, telemedicine represents a natural, inevitable and necessary evolution of care, speakers said Thursday during a session at the American Telemedicine Association's annual fall forum in New Orleans.
“I'm not sure who took a horse and buggy here today,” said Andrew Watson, the medical director of UPMC Telehealth and a practicing colorectal surgeon. “I cannot remember the last time I actually hand wrote a letter. ... The discussion we're having today about telehealth is in the context of if technology were to stop, which we know that it will not at all.”
