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The Doctor Will See You Now, But by Phone or Video Chat

Michelle Quinn

   OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA - When the COVID-19 pandemic struck the United
   States in mid-March, visits to doctors' offices dropped precipitously
   as people stayed home to protect themselves from the virus.

   But the stay-at-home order has spurred people to seek medical help in
   another way -- talking to a doctor over the phone, email or video,
   according to a new study.

   Now, 30% of all outpatient visits are televisits, up from less than 1%
   in early March, [1]according to researchers at Harvard University and
   Phreesia, a health care technology company.

   "That's a dramatic change," said Ateev Mehrotra, a professor at Harvard
   Medical School and one of the study's authors. "Those are the sorts of
   changes we expect over a decade, not over weeks."

References

   1. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/2020/apr/impact-covid-19-outpatient-visits

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