Hey, I have read more about telehealth. It is said that in those pre-COVID-19 telehealth evaluations, benefits were seen in situations where patients and clinicians had a choice, such as outpatient telehealth provider consultations were predominantly used to replace sending a patient for in-person visits with a specialist. However, the current environment and expectations and goals of both patients and providers are very different, making it likely outcomes will be different. Therefore, I wonder if these evaluations still are valuable?

Cheers.

Ok, I see. Cheers.

Actually, in the current pandemic, it is telehealth consultations that have the added advantages of supporting physical distancing while enhancing the efficient use of physicians and other healthcare providers when availability is even more restricted. Across clinical topics, outpatient telehealth consultations consistently improved access and reduced the number of visits and hospital admissions, and some studies reported improved clinical or psychiatric outcomes. A consistent finding of existing evaluation is that patients were generally more satisfied with the results of telehealth consultations, due to saved time or expense and reduced travel.