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.”
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