- In general, current state of U.S. dermatology, at least pre-pandemic has been that mobile teledermatology is certainly acceptably equivalent in diagnosis and management. And it’s been really effective in research. However, it has not been widely used because of barriers to implementation.
- Now, we have seen a lot more expansion in video visits and other things during the pandemic, but beforehand non-reimbursement was a big issue. And that continues to be for businesses that are not video.
- Concerned about liability, new kinds of patient visits and restrictions imposed by medical licensing.
- Now, a lot of these things have been addressed by policy changes during the pandemic, but most of these things continue to be things we have to work on because we don’t know what’s a long-term policy changes will be post-COVID.
- So the question remains now that this pandemic has totally reframed how we approach telemedicine. Is it here to stay?
- It really depends on if the money is around. Will the insurers adequately cover these visits?
- That being said the genie’s out of the bottle on this one and might be difficult to put back in.
Jules Lipoff. Teledermatology in the US. 8th World Congress of Teledermatology, Skin Imaging and AI in Skin diseases – November 2020
