Physicians who spend the majority of their time caring for patients through telehealth are part of an emerging medical specialty, two physician leaders from New York City-based NewYork-Presbyterian wrote in a Nov. 27 op-ed for JAMA.
The authors — Michael Nochomovitz, MD, senior vice president and chief clinical integration and network development officer, and Rahul Sharma, MD, emergency physician-in-chief — proposed calling these physicians "medical virtualists."
While introducing a medical specialty may sound daunting, they noted technology has continuously changed the practice landscape for physicians. The development of laparoscopic and robotic surgical equipment, for example, has led to subspecialty designations related to colon and rectal surgery.
"It is possible that there could be a need for physicians across multiple disciplines to become full-time medical virtualists with subspecialty differentiation," they explained. "Examples could be urgent care virtualists, intensive care virtualists, neurological virtualists and psychiatric or behavioral virtualists."
To enhance the delivery of these remote services, they suggested early adopters and trade associations work with certifying organizations to develop specialized training programs.
"Physicians now spend variable amounts of time delivering care through a virtual medium without formal training," they wrote, noting the importance of understanding 'webside manner' and the legal and clinical limitations of virtual care. "A professional consensus will be needed on a set of core competencies to be further developed over time."
To access Dr. Nochomovitz and Dr. Sharma's op-ed, click here.