Pediatrics an Emerging Market for Telemedicine

The law and the patients are both recognizing telemedicine's growing prominence in healthcare.

In Texas, Governor Greg Abbot recently signed a bill into law that says a physician-patient relationship can be established via telemedicine, rather than them having to meet in person first. The Lone Star State was the only holdover of this requirement, marking another milestone for telemedicine

The technology is growing in popularity with patients too. In particular, pediatrics seems to be a growing landing spot for its usage. A recent study from Nemours Children's Hospital found that 64 percent of parents polled have used or plan to use telemedicine within the next year for the care of their child.

In this episode of the Physician Practice Pearls podcast, we spoke to Shayan Vyas, MD, pediatric intensivist and director of telemedicine for Nemours Children's Health System, which has hospitals and clinics across Florida, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey, about this research and why pediatrics is an ideal spot for telemedicine. 

"Convenience is a big deal. Both mom and dad are off and working, children are at school, so family time is very limited during the school week," Vyas said on the podcast. "Using telehealth can bridge the gap and really help with the time crunch that families are struggling with today."

He also said that telemedicine increases parents' access to pediatric specialists. Later in the podcast, Vyas also talked about whether or not telemedicine is a viable option for private practice physicians and shares his advice on adopting the technology.

Click above to play the entire podcast.