Dr. Ram Raju: We need to figure out how to make the shift from face-to-face medicine to virtual medicine

In this episode, Dr. Ram Raju discusses how the global COVID-19 pandemic has impacted Northwell Health and how in future healthcare delivery systems will change in response to the crisis. Northwell Health is one of the largest health systems in New York and has been a telemedicine leader for the last five to six years. Dr. Raju believes that storing data in the EHRs and EMRs is going to be very different in the future – more video clips than text notes will be used. This means the final interoperability rule will take a different tone in terms of who gets to access the patient information and who finally owns it. Dr. Raju also believes that healthcare systems will need to evolve and change their workflow as more and more people will be seeking care through virtual technologies. Primary care will probably shift to virtual technology, shifting face-to-face medicine to virtual medicine, and specialty care will stay in the hospitals.