Administration

Next on WPSU's 'Digging Deeper': Telemedicine and its future in health care

President Eric Barron's show airs at 10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 23

Penn State Health’s Chris LaCoe, left, vice president of virtual care, and Dr. Mark Iantosca, professor of neurosurgery, will appear on WPSU's "Digging Deeper" on Sunday, Jan. 23. Credit: WPSU. All Rights Reserved.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State President Eric Barron will speak with two University experts about the rise of telemedicine, what services it offers, and how it will continue to grow during the next episode of WPSU’s “Digging Deeper” on Sunday, Jan. 23.

Penn State Health’s Dr. Mark Iantosca, professor of neurosurgery, and Chris LaCoe, vice president of virtual care, will join Barron for the discussion.

WPSU’s “Digging Deeper: Telemedicine" will air at 10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. on WPSU-TV and can be streamed on live.wpsu.org. WPSU is a Penn State Outreach service.

Telemedicine allows patients and medical providers to visit each other without being in the same room. Approximately 150 providers at the Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center utilized telemedicine and technology programs prior to the pandemic, and the number has since grown to around 2,200 providers, according to LaCoe.

Iantosca, who specializes in pediatric neurosurgery, said advanced technology like patient monitoring devices and virtual appointments have allowed him to keep better data on patients.

“That sort of marriage of devices and remote patient monitoring with the in-person visits, to sort of let us know when an in-person visit is necessary, and to be able to predict when that's going to be in a more accurate way than just saying, ‘We need to bring this patient in every three months or every six months,’ is going to be a big area of growth for telehealth for us going forward,” he said.

LaCoe said he sees telemedicine growing to around 40% of total visits in 10 years.

“The need is going to be there because the number of patients that will require care and the number of providers that we have will be inadequate,” he said. “This is definitely a way forward.”

WPSU’s “Digging Deeper” explores how work being done at the University impacts the broader community. Penn State senior Andrew Destin serves as co-host and rounds out each episode by asking Barron questions that are on the minds of students, faculty, staff and community members.

Visit the WPSU website for more information on central Pennsylvania’s public media station.

Last Updated January 18, 2022

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