- We need to make sure that there’s coordination with primary care providers.
- There are dangers to telemedicine disguising as Telehealth when provided by non Healthcare Providers (HCPs)
- Other models need to be regulated.
- Direct-to-consumer, direct-to-patient company, prescribe or recommend medications without being familiar with everything else in the history of the customer (not the “patient). They can’t rely entirely on the patient.
- And likewise, if a company prescribed something, the primary care provider needs to be aware of that:
- There are risks of allergies, interactions….what if there’s something urgent or an emergency? We need to make sure there are local reports for all possibilities.
- That being said – direct-to-patient teledermatology companies and systems bring a lot of utility such as triaging dermatoses. Indeed, the growth that we’re seeing in that sector speaks to the demand and need for innovative methods to connect with patients directly.
- However there’s a sense that many of these are prioritizing business over patients…so we need to ensure that the patients’ needs of high quality care are at the center.
Jules Lipoff. Teledermatology in the US. 8th World Congress of Teledermatology, Skin Imaging and AI in Skin diseases – November 2020
