![]() This may seem like a no-brainer, but there are nuances. Once it’s clearer how the patient is coping and responding to treatment, that’s a good time to discuss incorporating telemedicine visits. “There are things you can miss unless you’re sitting a foot or two away from the person.” Arif Kamal, an oncologist and the chief patient officer at the American Cancer Society. ![]() “A diagnosis of cancer is an emotional event it’s a life-changing moment, and a doctor wants to respond to that,” said Dr. ![]() But just as important, he might want to assess a patient’s emotional state. After a cancer diagnosis, for example, an oncologist might want to examine the site of a biopsy. Sometimes an in-person first visit can help doctors evaluate their patients in nontangible ways, too. A face-to-face visit can help you feel comfortable and confident with their participation. Or perhaps you have a chronic condition and your doctor has suggested adding a specialist to the team. Maybe your insurance has changed and you need a new primary care doctor or OB-GYN. “It’s hard to do that on a telemedicine visit.” Russell Kohl, a family physician and board member of the American Academy of Family Physicians. “As a patient, you’re trying to evaluate the physician, to see if you can talk to them and trust them,” said Dr. Subscribe to KFF Health News' free Weekly Edition. Telehealth appeals to a variety of patients because it allows them to simply log on to their computer and avoid the time and expense of driving, parking, and arranging child care that an in-person visit often requires.īut how do you gauge when to opt for a telehealth visit versus seeing your doctor in person? There are no hard-and-fast rules, but here’s some guidance about when it may make more sense to choose one or the other. Mental health conditions accounted for just under two-thirds of telehealth claims in November 2022, according to FairHealth, a nonprofit that manages a large database of private and Medicare insurance claims. More than any other field, behavioral health has embraced telehealth. Although telehealth use has moderated, it has found a role in many physician practices, and it is popular with patients. Now, three years after the start of the pandemic, we’re still figuring that out. “It’s great that we served patients, but we did not accumulate the norms and papers that we would normally accumulate so that we can know what works and what doesn’t work.” Ateev Mehrotra, a professor at Harvard Medical School whose research focuses on telemedicine and other health care delivery innovations. “It was a dramatic shift in one or two weeks that we would expect to happen in a decade,” said Dr. It can be republished for free.ĭuring the early months of the pandemic, telehealth visits for care exploded.
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