Opinion: Telehealth overpromises during the Covid-19 pandemic
“No more germy waiting rooms.” That’s the pitch from telehealth companies as we face the unknowns of Covid-19.
We haven’t yet figured out how to stop the spread of SAR-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease, but telehealth services are promising to keep us safe by keeping us out of doctors’ offices and emergency departments.
Video “visits” through computers, tablets, and smartphones, also known as telemedicine or virtual health care, are being promoted by hospitals, health systems, Vice President Mike Pence, and even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a solution for meeting patients’ needs during the pandemic. Since a telehealth visit is generally done from the patient’s home, there’s no risk of being exposed to the coronavirus or other pathogen, it is available anytime, and because some of the work can be done by chatbots and automated algorithms, it can handle more patients than in-person care.
As a stopgap measure to triage patients while there is limited access to coronavirus testing,
