PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Telemedicine has become the norm during the pandemic, keeping us connected with our doctors. Now one health system has marked a major milestone.
Telemedicine visits aren't new, and Penn Medicine has offered virtual visits for several years. Bill Hanson, Penn's chief medical information officer, said in 2019 there were nearly 500 telemedicine visits a month. That changed on March 9, 2020.
"That's sort of when we identified the arrival of COVID in our health system, in our area. In the three to four weeks after the onset of the local pandemic, we went to 7,500 telemedical visits per day," said Hanson.
As a matter of fact, just this February, they marked their millionth telemedicine visit.
Hanson expects these visits to continue, even after COVID-19 is under control. After all, seeing a doctor virtually was easy during several recent snow storms.
"Travel was restricted and patients weren't able to come in for routine visits, and providers were also having difficulty getting in," he said.
"So we were able to gear up our telemedicine, really more or less on demand. We would call a patient the night before and say we've converted your scheduled in person visit to a tele visit."
Hanson, however, doesn't think the virtual visits will be nearly as popular after the pandemic.
Disclosure: Penn Medicine is a sponsor of KYW Newsradio.