Moving Away from Traditional Healthcare

Virtual care and telemedicine open up new avenues for patients to access their care. Patients no longer need to be in a physician’s office or hospital to receive care. Instead, patients can get their care in their homes or wherever is most convenient, all from a phone or computer. This allows patients to take more ownership over their health.

At HLTH2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada, Sean Mehra, co-founder and chief strategy officer at HealthTap, discussed the shift in healthcare towards less traditional care models.

Editor’s note: This interview has been lightly edited for style and clarity.

Sean Mehra: I wouldn't say traditional healthcare is out the window. I think the industry is beginning to realize there's more and more healthcare, which doesn't require you being in a room with a doctor getting an exam. And the more we can find facets of those healthcare episodes that do not require you to be physically there, the more we can unlock tremendous efficiencies, increase convenience and cost savings by virtualizing new sessions — either by making the scarce human supply physicians accessible even if they're not near you because you can communicate them virtually, or by taking some facets of healthcare, which are relatively more simple or automatable, and replacing them with more automated AI methods.

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