Washington (AFP)

No long drive and no risk of exposure to Covid-19 in the waiting room: Gail Rae-Garwood is delighted to speak to her doctor via a screen.

Telemedicine, which has started shyly in recent years, has aroused much more enthusiasm since social distancing has become the rule to curb the coronavirus pandemic.

For her visit to her specialist, after being operated on for cancer, Gail Rae-Garwood just needed to measure her blood pressure and blood glucose level, at home, using connected objects.

"I'm so glad I didn't have to go out that I also converted my husky grumbler," said the 73-year-old American patient, who lives in Arizona.

Videoconference consultations appear to be an ideal solution when the current health crisis is exhausting health infrastructures around the world.

"The Covid-19 is very conducive to telemedicine," confirms Omar Khan, a general practitioner in the state of Delaware. "80% of people infected with coronavirus do not need to go to the hospital".

Doctors can determine a preliminary diagnosis from symptoms like fever and cough, as well as recent movements. A request for tests to confirm the infection can also be sent electronically.

If Covid-19 is detected, patients "go from quarantine to isolation", and many don't even have to leave their homes.

- Flexibility -

They accept the change because they "know the risks," says the doctor, who has done all his consultations remotely for two weeks.

"They don't want to endanger anyone, themselves or the caregivers. The hospital is a scary place right now."

A year ago, a study by the University of Michigan showed that telemedicine was of little interest to the elderly.

"In a few days, this perception has completely changed," says Preeti Malani, the medical professor who conducted this study. "Especially since we asked these more vulnerable people, who are at risk of complications, not to come to the clinic."

Administrative barriers are also falling.

Last month, US authorities removed restrictions that prevented Medicare, health coverage for seniors, and Medicaid, that of the poorest, from including telemedicine.

Confidential data regulations have also been relaxed - doctors can now use Skype or FaceTime, for example.

"I was pleasantly surprised to see this development, which would probably have taken 5 to 10 years otherwise", notes Courtney Joslin, researcher at the R Street Institute, a think tank.

"We are going to come out of this crisis with a lot of concrete information on how telemedicine works".

- Method for the future -

Another determining factor, private insurance now fully reimburses this practice.

Before, remote consultations were not covered by the state, mutuals or personal insurance from Gary Berman, a cardiologist in New Jersey.

"Telemedicine has interested me for a long time, but I did not want to expose myself to legal risks and not be reimbursed," he said.

The emergence of new connected objects, from thermometers to oximeters (pulse measurement), also facilitates practice. But "there are still things you can't do," he adds.

"You can't really measure blood pressure or hear a heart murmur."

He still thinks that he will continue after the pandemic, if the insurance allows it, at least for part of his patients, like people who can no longer move.

Joe Kvedar, president-elect of the American Telemedicine Association, believes that the pandemic will help to highlight what functions remote consultations can perform.

Routine visits, many treatments, mental health, diabetes monitoring and others can be managed via telemedicine, he said.

"Until this crisis, the only option was to come to the cabinet," he said. "I don't think we will return to this system. When it is finished, we will have a range of possibilities that will be practical and of high quality."

© 2020 AFP