COVID-19 has induced a hike in telemedicine adoption, and its application to primary care is expected to last forever.
The healthcare providers in the U.S. have been investing paramount efforts in making more services available via telehealth for years. However, the real value of telemedicine has only been realized in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, with strong dictates of social distancing and economic lockdown. COVID-19 has essentially paved the path for an inevitable telemedicine revolution, pushing it forward by a decade, if not more.
Telemedicine has always been deemed inadequate in delivering quality care due to the lack of in-person contact. Primary care has always rested on the assumption that telemedicine would be unsatisfactory and inefficient because it lacks in-person contact. This myth has been exposed to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic; it’s safer, more convenient, and much faster than the traditional primary care delivery models.
