SEATTLE — The next time you see your doctor for a routine checkup, there's a good chance it'll be through video chat.
In just a matter of weeks, the healthcare industry has undergone a monumental shift, from in-person to virtual appointments, to slow the spread of coronavirus.
“Will this have long-lasting implications on the way we provide and continue to give care? Absolutely,” said Dr. Khushvoo Mehta, care chat operations chief for Kaiser Permanente.
She said about 85% of her organization’s appointments are now virtual, through video chat, text, or phone, to limit person-to-person contact.
She said Kaiser Permanente was already expanding virtual care options when the coronavirus outbreak started. What was a matter of convenience suddenly became a necessity.
Mehta said she and her colleagues are asking patients to take their temperatures, provide blood pressure readings, and send lots of photos, anything to help doctors diagnose from a distance.
“The thing that I think we find the hardest is when we need to lay our hands on the patient. When we need to feel the tummy and say ‘where is it really tender?’” she said.
Hazelden Betty Ford, an outpatient drug and alcohol rehab center in Bellevue, shifted all their care to a new virtual video chat platform where they can do group sessions or one on one meetings.
“There are some patients that are doing very well with it that probably are actually doing better than they were face to face,” said David Anderson, director of the center.
What do they miss? It might be a handshake, hug, or little nuances of body language that say a lot about how a patient is doing. They're also concerned about the impacts of social distancing.
“The thing we were worried about and still are worried about is the isolation, when it comes to people with substance use disorder, as they progress, they tend to isolate more,” Anderson said.