In addition to consults, Remission Medical works with patients to help find nearby services for treatments, such as infusion suites, as well as generating lab imaging study orders for patients’ locales. “The big drivers [to enroll with Remission Medical] have been convenience for some people, and then just trying to get answers because patients cannot get in anywhere else,” notes Dr. Harner.
Benefits of the COVID-19 Pivot
Many rheumatology practices have begun incorporating telehealth, especially after the pandemic, which acted as a catalyst for expanding virtual patient visits. Dr. Davis says: “It makes sense for telerheumatology platform companies to work with academic rheumatology centers, so patients with more serious or complex conditions have access when necessary to in-person examination, diagnostic testing and other consultations for evaluation of the diagnosis and plan of care.
“To track health outcomes, monitor population health, and predict disease relapses and complications, it is important that we develop digital tools for remote monitoring and predictive analytics,” Dr. Davis continues. “Lacking physical examination is a barrier in telemedicine but also an opportunity to leverage digital sources of data, including patient-reported outcome measures and data from wearable technologies, to devise intelligent tools that assist and inform longitudinal management.”
These tools could go a long way to help others fare better than Mr. Wehman initially did and to help transform the experience of “navigating the labyrinth of rheumatology.”
Gretchen Henkel is a health and medical journalist based in California.
