Devices & Diagnostics, Health IT, Hospitals, Policy

Study highlights potential problems for telemedicine expansion

Telemedicine may be seen as a great way to help address the physician shortage and […]

Telemedicine may be seen as a great way to help address the physician shortage and increasing access to care in rural areas, but when it comes to complex problems like patients with implantable devices, not so much. In a study evaluating remote monitoring, more than 50 percent said thy preferred an in-office visit.

Technically, the study produced positive results because it showed remote monitoring could catch problems. The three-month study carried out in Portugal focused on 15 people with cardiac implants using Medtronic’s telemedicine system, CareLink, for a follow-on checkup.

It showed that remote monitoring picked up nine problems in patients and six were found during in-person visits — two of the patients required admission. None of the problems were described as severe, according to the study published in Telemedicine and eHealth, and referenced by FierceMedicalDevices.

Why didn’t the participants especially like remote monitoring through telemedicine? Most missed the physician interaction. Nearly half said it was because they wanted direct physician observation and about 31 percent said they wanted direct contact with health professionals.

I admit to being a bit divided on this issue. In cases where people have mobility problems, or can’t physically get to their appointment otherwise, that’s great. But I don’t see a remote physical exam as preferable to the in-person experience. From a legal standpoint, I wonder what the malpractice risk is for a physician who makes a house call using telemedicine compared with seeing that same patient in person. I suspect this factor poses one of the greatest challenges to its expansion. You just can’t easily replace human contact, even on telemonitor.

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