MDNews - Central New York

THE RISING POPUL ARIT Y OF TELEMEDICINE, INCLUDING THE GROW TH OF VIRTUAL CLINICS, MAY BE A VITAL COMPONENT OF SUSTAINING PATIENT ACCESS TO CARE, OBSERVERS SAY. " Don't fear [virtual care]. Embrace it. Because it's going to bring you back to why you went to medical school in the first place — to have the power to connect with patients on a personal level." • RANDALL MOORE, MD, MBA, PRESIDENT OF MERCY VIRTUAL A Virtual Solution to the Physician Shortage? BY TREVOR WILLINGHAM AC C O R D IN G T O T HE American Telemedicine Association, more than half of all U.S. hospitals now engage in some form of telemedicine, addressing patient needs remotely through the use of wide-ranging technologies. Growing numbers of patients receive primary care through telemedicine as well. A DISCONCERTING DEFICIT Those could prove to be timely developments, as the Association of American Medical Colleges projects that by 2025, the United States will experience a shortfall of 61,700 to 94,700 primary care physicians and specialists, eroding access to treatment. Washington is among the states that have contended with the reality of too few physicians for too many patients. "Shortages in counties in this area were really creating issues and challenges for patients to see a primary care physician," says Ralph C. Derrickson, President and CEO of Carena Inc., a virtual care provider based in Seattle. "Patients were either not getting care, deferring care or having to travel great distances to get care." However, technological advances in medicine and society at large have revealed an opportunity to alleviate some of the pressure on physicians, while simultaneously getting patients the care they need. EXPANDING BENEFITS OF VIRTUAL CARE Technologies that support telemedicine have existed for quite some time, though only in comparatively recent times has the hea lthcare industry begun to more fully perceive the scope of medica l care that can be addressed through those technologies. ANSWERING THE CALL: 1 4

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