- It can shift extra work to front-line medical providers
- Lack of a direct physical exam on patients
- Communication is through a platform rather than being face-to-face

Limitations to clinician-to-clinician communications

- Time-efficient for specialists
- Patient-initiated second opinion requests are possible

Opportunities of E-consult: clinician-to-clinician communications

- The patient initiates communication-based on convenience 
- Patient can use self-service tools
- Live/autonomous responses can be employed
- Live text/messaging can be used for communication

Opportunities for Patient-initiated messaging

Specialists can communicate in real-time to optimize patient care as well as having accessible second opinions based on patient request.

University of California, Santa Cruz

Telehealth encounters can be encountered by the following:
- E-consult: clinician-to-clinician communications
- Remote patient monitoring
- E-consult: patient-initiated communication
- Telephone visit
- Video visit

Telehealth encounters

Wosik, J., Fudim, M., Cameron, B., Gellad, Z. F., Cho, A., Phinney, D., . . . Tcheng, J. (2020). Telehealth transformation: COVID-19 and the rise of virtual care. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 27(6), 957-962. doi:10.1093/jamia/ocaa067

Telehealth transformation: COVID-19 and the rise of virtual care

E-consult: clinician-to-clinician communications

Remote patient monitoring, or the direct transmission of a patient’s clinical measurements to a healthcare provider, provides an efficient method of monitoring conditions as they progress. Symptoms and developments of chronic conditions can be tracked effectively as well.

Remote patient monitoring

Patient can get medical assistance from medical providers directly saving time on more "basic" issues. Reduces strain on front-line workers and allows said providers to focus on more pressing concerns. 

E-consult: patient-initiated communication

Can replace sine unnecessary face-to-face visits; saving time, resources, and strain on the entire healthcare system, especially in terms of cost.

Telephone visit

A form of telehealth encounter involving synchronous patient-clinician communication with both audio and video, allowing care providers to visually observe patients.

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