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Digital health care: Better than the doctor's office?

CNET talked with three medical luminaries at CES 2021 to discuss what we've gained -- and need to fix -- with telehealth over a turbulent pandemic year.

Lindsey Turrentine EVP, Content and Audience
Lindsey Turrentine is executive vice president for content and audience. She has helped shape digital media since digital media was born.
Lindsey Turrentine
2 min read

Three years ago, CNET discussed digital health at our Next Big Thing supersession and wondered aloud how much of the world would readily adopt health care from home, at that point still in its infancy. 

Oh, how times have changed. Over this past year of COVID-19 lockdowns, telehealth saw usage by US broadband households jump from 15% to 41% between the second quarter of 2019 and the same period in 2020, according to Parks Associates. That kind of progress rarely happens overnight, and overnight progress rarely happens without a lot of learning and a few growing pains.

To figure out what we've learned and what comes next for telehealth, I interviewed three thought leaders in the space during CES 2021. First, I spoke with Yulun Wang, Ph.D. and head of R&D for Teladoc Health, which recently acquired Livongo in one of the biggest business-of-medicine headlines of the year. Wang has pioneered remote health technologies of many kinds including the first FDA-approved surgical robot and the ZEUS robotic surgical system, which performed the world's first transatlantic surgery.

Next, I turned to Dr. Wendy Dean, CEO and cofounder of Moral Injury of Healthcare, a nonprofit consulting organization aimed at reforming and helping the medical industry pursue healing without causing conflict for patients and doctors. Dean has years of experience speaking on conflicts and challenges in providing truly helpful care, and she takes a thoughtful and critical look at the challenges telemedicine introduces and that the whole industry must navigate.

Finally, I looked to the future and what patients can expect in an interview with Dr. E Hanh Le, Chief Medical Officer at our sister brand Healthline Media. Le supervises a team of doctors who explain medical concepts and create content for patients, and she has years of experience understanding patients' concerns and explaining the direction medicine will take in the future.

The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.