Before COVID-19, telemedicine was practiced by many health systems, but seeing patients in person was still the norm.
Within a few short weeks in March 2020, health systems and practices were forced to adopt new ways of seeing patients and delivering care.
Although face-to-face visits will always be a part of health care, thereâs no going back, providers say.Â
There are still obstacles that need to be overcome â especially when it comes to insurance coverage and access.
Nevertheless, the pandemic is spurring advances in delivery of patient care that might otherwise have taken years to develop.
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âPre-COVID, we were interested in making telehealth part of our five-year plan,â said Dr. Christopher Davis, UCHealth emergency medicine physician and medical director of virtual health. âThat was critical when COVID hit in March, because we had infrastructure in place that we could rapidly scale rather than building from scratch.â