Why Telemedicine Works
Telemedicine is an expanding part of our healthcare system that is making a lot of promises to increase accessibility to healthcare, reduce costs, and make it more convenient for patients. Yet many people don’t believe that they can get quality primary health care from virtual medicine, especially for People of Color who already experience health inequities with traditional in-person care. There are A LOT of reasons people don’t have the same faith in telemedicine as they do in traditional in person care, and many of those concerns are valid. However, as a physician with 30 years of experience, I believe in the power of telehealth when it’s executed with thought and intention and its ability to provide exceptional primary care for patients, especially for marginalized groups.
What is Telemedicine and how does it work?
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In the broadest terms, telemedicine happens anytime you interact with a doctor, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, or other member of the healthcare team outside of the traditional in-person office visit. The most basic form, telephone medicine, has been practiced for decades. If you speak with a doctor on the phone and you both determine that you can be treated safely and effectively based on your medical history and a description of symptoms, that is telemedicine. Many people find this a bit unnatural, but for well-trained clinicians, it makes sense. Your medical history and description of symptoms remain the most important part of making a diagnosis, and upwards of 80% of conditions can be diagnosed by your history alone. Of course, that depends in part on the seriousness of your symptoms. Even so, one in five patients seen in the emergency room can be safely diagnosed based just on their symptoms without any other tests and without a physical exam.
Today, telemedicine has become even more sophisticated since adding in the video component. This visual mechanism of connecting you to a medical care team is a very important part of providing exceptional care. We know that history and symptoms, communicated verbally, go a long way to make a diagnosis, but an initial diagnosis isn't the end all and be all of medicine. Good primary care involves a provider working with you to help you understand your diagnosis and creating a custom treatment plan you can actually stick to. In order to do that, both trust and understanding have to be built, and face to face interactions with the provider increases overall communication so that that can happen. As humans we create facial expressions that represent more than 20 different feelings and emotions including happiness, pain, sadness, distress, skepticism, and understanding. Are you smiling? Are you paying attention to me? Do you care? Are you like me? Do you understand what I just said? This nonverbal communication helps telemedicine providers and patients interact as if they were face to face and build relationships built on trust and mutual understanding.
Telemedicine also helps your provider understand how ill you may be. Seeing you on a screen adds important medical information, especially when treating more serious conditions. Take someone with a bad cold, for instance. The provider may ask the patient if their breathing is difficult and they may answer "a little," but if they never had a cold like this before, they don't have anything to compare it to. That's where video comes in. The provider can observe their breathing rate and the effort of breathing, they can use that information to help understand if this is a bad cold or something worse like pneumonia.
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When should I use Telemedicine?
Telemedicine is certainly not appropriate for all conditions such as serious illnesses or emergencies. For example, if you have serious bleeding, you need to get to an emergency room, not have a telemedicine visit. However, if you are not sure how serious your bleeding is - for example, a few drops of blood- you can consult with a doctor through telemedicine for advice, but you still might be referred for in person care. This is why Spora Health has clear guidelines about when we treat someone using telemedicine and when we don’t. For simple and common illnesses like a skin rash, cold symptoms and a host of others, you will be in good (virtual) hands with telemedicine. Similarly, many chronic illnesses can be managed effectively with telemedicine, especially with the availability of new devices like home blood pressure cuffs. And, if your symptoms turn out to be something different, we will refer you for In Office Care when that’s best for you.
With all of that said telemedicine can safely and effectively treat the following conditions:
Skin: Minor/superficial wounds, Rashes, Acne, Chronic dermatologic conditions
Infections Sinus, Urinary tract, Pink eye
Digestive system Constipation, Acid reflux, Food poisoning, Stomach flu, Colonoscopies
Allergies Seasonal allergies, Sinus congestion, Food allergy treatments
Cold & Flu Cough, Fever, Congestion, Sore throat, Nausea
Chest Hypertension, Asthma, Minor COPD
Musculoskeletal Sports injuries, Plantar fasciitis, Lower back pain
Women's Health Birth control, Mammogram screening
Mental health Depression screening & treatment
Why should I use Telemedicine if I’m close to in person care options?
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Though many people think of telemedicine as a way to get care when you live far from a doctor's office, telemedicine makes sense even when you’re close to a physical medical location. Distance, parking, and transportation costs are only part of the story. The big savings of telehealth is in your time. You might only live a few miles from the doctor's office or urgent care but when you consider the time you need to take off work, drive and park (or take public transportation), and wait to be seen, you could spend a big chunk of your day getting to and from what is often a 20 minute appointment. Our time is a resource we can’t make more of or ever get back, so why would we waste it if we don’t have to?
Another reason to consider virtual care, even when you are close to in person care options, is safety. Safety for you and safety for others. Let's say you are a young woman with symptoms of a simple urinary infection. You've had them before and you woke up with the same symptoms as last time. Should you be going to a doctor's office and sitting in a waiting room next to someone who may have the flu (or worse)? Probably not. Similarly, if you have a cold, do you want to go to a doctor's office and risk passing it along to someone else? The fact is, we've been doing in person medicine and bringing sick people together for too long. Instead, regardless of where you live, you can get the care you need from your home safely and more efficiently.
So why am I still hesitant about Telemedicine?
The short answer? Trust. It’s the basis of all care and It must be earned and preserved. Without trust, there can be no care. No healing. And in healthcare, it must be rebuilt with People of Color.
American medicine has a big problem when it comes to trust. Its history is filled with horrors. From the legacy of J. Marion Sims who cut enslaved Black women without anesthesia, even though he used it on his White patients. The denial of dignity, consent, and remuneration for Henrietta Lacks, whose cells became one of the most important contributions to medical science in all of history. The Tuskegee Experiment that, under the eye of the US Government until it was stopped in 1972, let Black people die of syphilis even though a cure was available 25 years earlier. This history shows a repeated perversion of trust that we continue to see in healthcare today in maternal mortality which is 3-5 times higher for Black Americans and American Indian/Alaska Natives than for White Americans. This is what drives us at Spora Health. That’s why we exist. To create better care for our generation and rebuild the trust that’s been forsaken so many times before.
At Spora Health we begin with trust. That’s why we put your interests first when designing our care models. You won’t see us offering services that can’t be safely provided through a telemedicine visit. And, if we can’t treat you through telemedicine, we’ll guide you to someone who can treat you in person. Trust is why we safeguard your healthcare data using industry-standard privacy tools and safeguards. Finally, trust is why all of the providers you see at Spora Health are specially trained in health equity through the extensive training of our Spora Health Institute. This ensures that you receive a telemedicine experience rooted in equity and respect, no matter which provider you see.
At Spora Health, We’re Changing History
Spora Health begins with wellness. Your wellness. That distinguishes us from many other telemedicine companies which focus on sick visits. We certainly will take good care of you when you are sick, but we don’t start there. Our care gives you access to the Spora App where doctors, nurses, educators, dietary specialists, and many others work with you to help you reach your health goals. Our personalized health plans are custom designed for you with advice about meals, exercises, mind health, and wellness care tailored to you and your goals.
Additionally, what distinguishes Spora Health from all others is our “Equity Built In” model at the center of everything we do. We know how dangerous biased medicine can be, so we run our wellness and clinical treatment programs through extensive reviews to remove bias from clinical protocols.
Your care journey at Spora Health begins with us getting to know more about your lived experiences including your daily routine, diet, moods, and any symptoms you may have. We compile this information and create a series of Health Factors which are topics for you to explore with your healthcare team. These factors are not diagnosis, but rather potential conditions and health risks which may be important as you create an Equity-Centered Power Plan with your Spora Team. Unlike other platforms which use large populations of mostly White People, Spora Health calculates your health risks based on a highly diverse group of people of many colors and ethnic backgrounds.
Our platform then organizes information for you in a simple and powerful way, giving you feedback on how things are going, and lettin you reach out to your health care team whenever you need to. What's more, your Spora Health Team checks in with you for feedback on how you are doing with health assessments you can take anytime, anywhere.
We’re more than a telemedicine platform. We’re a radically inclusive, virtual first health experience that can help People of Color take control of their health without many of the barriers that have traditionally existed for generations. We’re out to change history and telemedicine is going to help us get there.
Are you ready to start your healthcare journey with a culturally competent primary care provider? Sign up today.
