Joseph Kvedar July 5, 2022
Every sailor knows of that dreaded spot where the wind dies, the sail goes slack, and the boat starts bobbing back and forth – the doldrums. As I reflect on the ups and downs of telehealth over the past two years, the analogy seems apt to me.
In June of 2020, we were riding the wave of promise, having just experienced mass adoption of telehealth by both patients and providers. At the time, we did not seem to appreciate the lack of competition from face-to-face interactions. Doctors’ offices were shut down, so of course, telehealth flourished. Starting July 2021, we began to integrate telehealth and in-person care into the complete healthcare experience. The success of this integration has been...