Millennium Magazine_8th Ed

LOWER COSTS In many cases, the cost of a telemedicine visit will be just a fraction of the price of a traditional doctor visit. These lower costs can be a huge benefit for patients, as well as for prescribers. A BOOM FOR RURAL TECHNOLOGY For many years, technology in rural communities has lagged that of more urban areas. Widespread adoption of telemedicine for routine and urgent care could finally provide the impetus for technology companies to invest in rural communities and small towns. IMPROVED ACCESS TO SPECIALISTS From dermatologists to urologists, specialists can be hard to come by in many parts of the country. However, telemedicine allows patients to take the search nationwide. Instead of being bound by the vagaries of geography, telemedicine patients can have access to the best specialists in the country no matter where they, or the doctors, choose to live. The COVID-19 pandemic has left enormous amounts of human suffering and financial devastation in its wake. All those things are true, but it is also true that the COVID crisis has helped usher in a new era of telemedicine; one that many people believe is here to stay.