The nation’s physician specialty shortage has only worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. Telemedicine offers an immediate solution.
Chris Gallagher, M.D., CEO of Access TeleCare discussed the specialty shortage and telemedicine’s ability to address it in an Executive Q&A with Healthcare IT News:
“The need for specialty care, fueled in large part by a growing and aging population, exceeds the available supply of physicians. The results will be delayed or foregone care, leading to poorer health outcomes.
Telemedicine offers an immediate solution because it distributes the available supply of specialists more equitably and puts physicians where they are needed without limiting them to a specific geographic area or facility. And, it does it today. Increasing the number of physicians takes years and requires taxpayer investment in creating new residency and fellowship positions. These are important policy questions that merit debate and analysis, but hospitals have patients to care for now. With specialty, high-acuity telemedicine, they can.”
Read the full interview here.
