Pat Conolly, MD, Highlights Benefits of Virtual Visits in Healthcare Dive

More health care organizations are offering virtual visits as part of telehealth services, according to a recent online report in Healthcare Dive in an article spotlighting Kaiser Permanente and United Healthcare.

The article, “Virtual care moves toward the frontline of provider-patient relationships,” quotes Pat Conolly, MD, executive vice president of Information Technology and chief information officer at The Permanente Federation. Dr. Conolly says non-emergency video visits are available at Kaiser Permanente for primary care appointments and some follow-up appointments with specialists.

She noted video visits are especially helpful in certain departments such as Pediatrics, where busy parents can use video for routine pediatric visits instead of taking time off from work to come into the doctor’s office. But Dr. Conolly emphasized that these virtual visits are always offered as an option, and members can always request an in-person visit.

“There are people who need to be reassured,” she says in the article, “They need to have contact with a person to be reassured. I don’t see that totally going away.”

To read the complete story, visit the Healthcare Dive website.