Telemedicine, which provides a way to safely coordinate and deliver care to patients from a distance, has gained popularity in recent years among doctors, patients, and health systems. But its widespread acceptance was dramatically accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has given patients timely access to care without exposing them to the risk of contracting the coronavirus. However, it also poses a risk of widening inequities in health care in the United States by improving care for those who already have access while leaving behind those who are in need. As the pandemic has highlighted, the disparity is already huge: More than 31 million Americans were uninsured in 2020, limiting health care access during the worst public health crisis in decades. Therefore, it is vital that telemedicine be implemented in a way that closes, rather than increases, the gap.
How to Make Telemedicine More Equitable
What one Houston-based health system is doing to ensure the most vulnerable populations don’t get left behind.
October 07, 2021
Summary.
One of the risks of telemedicine is that it can reduce disadvantaged populations’ access to health care. But as Harris Health System, which serves metropolitan Houston, found, it also can be a means for expanding such access. Its model entails training clinicians, taking steps to anticipate patients’ needs, picking the most effective types of providers, and creating a backup plan.