Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Jun 1;27(6):957-962.
doi: 10.1093/jamia/ocaa067.

Telehealth transformation: COVID-19 and the rise of virtual care

Jedrek Wosik  1 , Marat Fudim  1 , Blake Cameron  2 , Ziad F Gellad  3   4 , Alex Cho  5 , Donna Phinney  6 , Simon Curtis  7 , Matthew Roman  6   8 , Eric G Poon  5   6 , Jeffrey Ferranti  6   8   9 , Jason N Katz  1 , James Tcheng  1
Affiliations

Telehealth transformation: COVID-19 and the rise of virtual care

Jedrek Wosik et al. J Am Med Inform Assoc. .

Abstract

The novel coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic has altered our economy, society, and healthcare system. While this crisis has presented the U.S. healthcare delivery system with unprecedented challenges, the pandemic has catalyzed rapid adoption of telehealth, or the entire spectrum of activities used to deliver care at a distance. Using examples reported by U.S. healthcare organizations, including ours, we describe the role that telehealth has played in transforming healthcare delivery during the 3 phases of the U.S. COVID-19 pandemic: (1) stay-at-home outpatient care, (2) initial COVID-19 hospital surge, and (3) postpandemic recovery. Within each of these 3 phases, we examine how people, process, and technology work together to support a successful telehealth transformation. Whether healthcare enterprises are ready or not, the new reality is that virtual care has arrived.

Keywords: COVID; pandemic; telehealth; telemedicine.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Three phases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and demand for telehealth services.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Duke institutional operations data of telehealth visits: telephone and video.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Tele-ICU (iPad on a stick): rapidly deployed mobile virtual consult service. (A) The complete unit; (B) clamp attached to pole; (C) positioned bedside in patient room; (D) view for remote physician.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Augenstein J. Opportunities to expand telehealth use amid the coronavirus pandemic. Health Affairs Blog 2020. https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20200315.319008/full/ Accessed March 23, 2020. - DOI
    1. Galewitz P. Telemedicine surges, fueled by coronavirus fears and shift in payment rules. Kaiser Health News 2020. https://khn.org/news/telemedicine-surges-fueled-by-coronavirus-fears-and... Accessed March 29, 2020.
    1. Hollander JE, Carr BG.. Virtually perfect? Telemedicine for Covid-19. N Engl J Med 2020. Mar 11 [E-pub ahead of print]. - PubMed
    1. Keesara S, Jonas A, Schulman K.. Covid-19 and health care's digital revolution. N Engl J Med 2020. Apr 2[E-pub ahead of print]. - PubMed
    1. Leavitt HJ. Applied organisational change in industry: structural, technological and humanistic approaches In: March JG, ed. Handbook of Organization. Chicago, IL: Rand McNally; 1965: 1144–70.