The Future of Virtual Care

Dr. Joe Kvedar, Professor of Dermatology, Harvard Medical School, author, editor, advisor and telehealth evangelist, interviewed by Trond Arne Undheim, futurist, investor, and author.

In this conversation, we talk about the history Telehealth and it's transformation into a two-channel delivery system combining in-person and virtual care. A precursor in the field, Joe charts the 20 year evolution from "show me the data" to "how do I implement?". We briefly discuss the use case of Melanoma therapy and AI/imaging from Kvedar's own field, dermatology. We discuss COVID-19 effects and other disruptive forces. Joe shares the startups he sees disrupting the game and how he stays up to date. We cover the emerging two-channel care delivery system and discuss the future of virtual care in the next decade.

My takeaway is that Telehealth has come a long way in 20 years and it's not just about the technologies, but it is also about adapting to a hybrid model of care where you each time select the communication mode that best serves the patient given the constraints, and still is efficient for the health system at large. The future of virtual care is up for grabs, it is already starting to look different from five years ago. Leapfrogging seems entirely possible and we will see new winners but also old champions rise to the challenge having invested time and resources in the area for decades. What's certain is that both infrastructure and skills will need to evolve with the challenges and opportunities ahead.

Having listened to this episode, check out Harvard Medical School as well as Dr. Joe Kvedar's online profile:

• TEDx Talk: Why Humans are the Future of Digital Health | Joe Kvedar | TEDxBeaconStreet - YouTube
• Harvard Medical School (@harvardmed): https://hms.harvard.edu/
• Dr. Joe Kvedar (@jkvedar): https://www.linkedin.com/in/joekvedar/
• Homepage: https://www.joekvedar.com/

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If you like this topic, you may enjoy other episodes of Futurized, such as episode 19, Digital Health in Future Pandemics, episode 55 AI for Medicine, or episode 82 The Future of Digital Health AI.

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