Telemedicine in COVID-19: Disparities still exist
“An increasing number of institutions are relying on telemedicine to continue delivering care to patients in lieu of typical outpatient visits in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Telemedicine has been lauded as a potential equalizer in health care access. Indeed, it allows for safe and easy access to medical professionals. It especially benefits patients with transportation issues or those seeking specialty care from far away. Some pitfalls such as reimbursement issues and lack of physical exam notwithstanding, telemedicine overall is a helpful service at a time like this. However, telemedicine does not benefit all patients equally. In fact, it exposes and amplifies the existing health care disparity in a subgroup of patients.”
Wenjing Zong is a pediatric gastroenterology fellow.
She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, “Telemedicine in COVID-19: Disparities still exist.” (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/05/telemedicine-in-covid-19-disparities-still-exist.html)
