Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Telehealth Shortfall: Doctor Counts The Ways In-Person Physicals Are Important
NPR: Is The Pandemic Fast-Tracking The Disappearance Of The Physical Exam?
Despite a foothold in medicine that predates Hippocrates himself, the traditional physical exam might be on the verge of extinction. The coronavirus crisis has driven more routine medical appointments online, accelerating a trend toward telemedicine that has already been underway. This worries Dr. Paul Hyman, author of a recently published essay in JAMA Internal Medicine, who reflects on what's lost when physicians see their patients almost exclusively through a screen. (Kendrick, 8/31)
AP: Fad Or Future? Telehealth Expansion Eyed Beyond Pandemic
Telehealth is a bit of American ingenuity that seems to have paid off in the coronavirus pandemic. Medicare temporarily waived restrictions predating the smartphone era and now there’s a push to make telemedicine widely available in the future. Consultations via tablets, laptops and phones linked patients and doctors when society shut down in early spring. Telehealth visits dropped with the reopening, but they’re still far more common than before. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 8/30)
ABC News: Telemedicine For Pets: How COVID-19 Is Disrupting Animal Health Care
Jenny Hu fans the kitten peering out from its carrier with a large manila envelope, offering the tiny feline whatever relief she can on a typically hot and humid August day in New York City. Hu and her pet are waiting outside of a veterinarian's office in midtown Manhattan for a staff member to meet them. Waiting outside the vet's office for an appointment is yet another part of the coronavirus pandemic's "new normal." (Lynn, 8/30)
