By 2018, Kaiser Permanente will perform more virtual visits than in-person office visits.
This bombshell of sorts came to us from Dr. Robert Pearl, executive director and CEO of the Permanente Medical Group and president and CEO of the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group. Pearl was on a keynote panel Tuesday at the 13th annual World Health Care Congress in Washington, and spoke to MedCity News briefly afterwards.
Obviously, telehealth technologies such as secure e-mail, telephone and video will not replace all care anytime soon. Some procedures, such as radiology tests, biopsies and surgeries, of course, have to be done in a clinical setting, but Pearl was referring to office visits.
For the reasoning behind his statement, watch this short video interview.
Photo: YouTube user World Congress Events
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
