Diabetes Content Marketing Specialist
Editor, BearingOn.Health
BearingOn.Health Original Contribution
August 2024
This month, we invited you to participate in two surveys. The first: your experience with digital health as a patient. The second: your expertise on the impact of digital health on the clinician burden. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and expertise!
"Yup! I've made the most out of all of the above! I've used telemedicine with my primary care for those lighter appointments, and that has saved me a lot of time driving and waiting in the lobby just to confirm that a new med is working well. I've used an online counseling thing for couples therapy, which was so helpful. There's no way my husband and I could've scheduled all that trying to get to a local therapy office and they're all booked up for months anyway. My husband has used HIMS to get meds, too, and that was so much easier than dealing with his local primary care. We need options! The options are good."
"My local healthcare system, Sharp Rees Stealy Medical Group offers Telehealth across all 38 specialties and 700+ physicians and extenders."
"Luckily, I know my healthcare providers and have no problem getting time with them. I have heard from others, however, that this is a major problem, and that health care is just swamped."
"Telehealth is fine for episodic, low-level acuity (derm, sore throat) common conditions. Would not use it for anything chronic or complex unless I had my MD on it. not overly impressed with the quality of MDs in telehealth. My adult son uses it for BH appts in order to get his Rx. He never sees someone in person. no continuity of care. just dials it in to get Rx."
"I have found it very convenient to get therapy via Telegraph. It was hard to find a local provider who took my insurance and had time for new patients. Telehealth filled the gap."
"I have used telehealth for minor medical issues with my PCP because it was easy to have a quick visit and saved a drive to his office. Recently my spouse had an uncomfortable UTI and we were able to get quick care via telehealth late at night and had medications via the local 24-hour pharmacy within hours despite dangerously bad weather in our area. This was far better than going to the ER."
"Telehealth is good for people who are stable, but if you have a chronic or serious illness you need in-person."
"I have had very good PPO coverage and have connections that allow me to access any provider that I've wanted within a reasonable time (1-3 weeks). There are, of course, many people who struggle (so I'm a believer in digital / telehealth) due to their lower reimbursement rate coverage or access to transportation or time off work or no referral from existing patients."
"I use Urgent Care for quick service...works great. Use my regular doctors for scheduled appointments."
"I live in an assisted living facility and don’t drive. Telehealth is a Godsend! I can do almost everything on my iPhone."
"In some places, digital tools are making an impact, still too early. Education to providers, all members of the healthcare team, and the consumer are needed to encourage widespread use."
"I run a population health program for a payer. From my perspective, we do not yet have sufficient AI tools to evaluate their effectiveness, but I suspect we will find great value in data analysis for targeting our outreach. In the end, though, the key to population health is still going to be in getting patients to engage with a nurse or educational program, and AI is not going to fix that."
"There's definitely long-term potential to reduce clinical time and improve access...but it hasn't happened yet."
"It's high time that physicians let health care professionals into their world of medicine."
"In the short-term, AI is going to reduce A LOT of time spent entering data into the EHR. However, much sooner than expected, we will also see more personalized digital guidance, where an individual's medical record informs the patient of the next steps, and proactive testing recommendations."