Doctors Aditi Joshi and Brandon Welch were already telehealth veterans by the time the Covid-19 pandemic changed the industry's trajectory virtually overnight. Dr. Joshi was busy as the medical director of telehealth in one of the few emergency departments that had long taken telehealth seriously. Meanwhile, as the co-founder and CEO of the telehealth software company doxy.me, Dr. Welch watched his user base explode from 80,000 users to 750,000 in a matter of weeks during the first lockdowns.
As the pandemic waned, Dr. Welch was struck by a subsequent dropoff in general telehealth usage, and assembled a team of researchers to root out its cause. Their ultimate answer came down to one word: success. Clinicians who were successful with telemedicine continued to use it, and those who weren't fell off when it was no longer their only option. After thousands of hours exploring what precisely telemedicine success entails, his team concluded that telemedicine success rests upon five pillars:
Patient success: Patients need to receive the quality of care they desire, in the way they prefer. Clinician success: Clinicians and organizations need to provide quality care in a way that works for them. Technology success: Telehealth technology must work well and be easy to use. Financial success: Clinicians, payers, and patients need to benefit financially from using telehealth. Compliance success: Clinicians need to stay out of legal trouble and use healthcare laws and regulations to their advantage.
From this foundation, Dr. Welch resolved to write a book that charted a course into medicine's post-pandemic future, and partnered with Dr. Joshi to incorporate her indispensable clinical perspective. Together, they dive into what success in each category means, and how clinicians of all kinds, in all kinds of organizations, can achieve it.
By following the strategies outlined in this book, healthcare organizations can go from simply using telemedicine to thriving by using it to its full potential. Through telehealth, the healthcare of the future stands to be more accessible, more convenient, more affordable, and more equitable, and this book provides a thorough roadmap to get there.
