Jean-Paul Achkar, MD

I agree that telehealth will play a big role in our day-to-day practice as we come out of the COVID-19 pandemic. There are many advantages for patients with telehealth, which include saving them time and associated expenses of taking time off work, driving and parking. Foster offers two examples of patients ideal for telehealth, which include patients with whom we may need to discuss indication for and risk of advanced procedures prior to the day of their appointment and patients who are on anticoagulants who may need management of those medications prior to a procedure. That often can be a brief discussion conducted using telehealth and would save the patient from coming into the office.

In addition, other patients can benefit from telehealth visits, including established patients with chronic illnesses like inflammatory bowel disease or liver disease who need close monitoring and follow-up. Another group that may benefit are patients who come in from a long distance who are likely going to require testing; we can do that initial evaluation via a telehealth visit and order testing so when they subsequently come to the institution we can make it a more efficient visit where tests and clinic visits are set up beforehand.

Telehealth may not work for every patient. Some patients will still need to come to the office especially when a physical exam may be an important part of the visit.  Some examples are new patients with complex or chronic disease where a face-to-face visit and physical exam would be important, or patients with new onset symptoms where checking vital signs and a physical exam may detect relevant findings. As we move forward and try to return to normal states over the next few months, physician’s practices are going to continue to evolve likely leading to schedules that incorporate a combination of telehealth visits and in-person visits. This balance will need to be tailored for physicians depending on the patient populations with whom they work. What is clear however, is that telehealth will play a big role as we move forward in taking care of patients.