In an MIT Technology Review analysis, writer Christina Farr questions whether virtual healthcare services will soon see a disproportionate number of users with health anxiety — and, if so, whether telehealth companies have an ethical responsibility to address this.
Health anxiety, also known as hypochondria, impacts between less than 1 percent to up to 12 percent of the population, according to various studies. A recent concern is whether those with health anxiety will flock to telehealth, due to its convenience and the variety of applications. If so, this poses an interesting dilemma for telehealth companies.
"With any other type of mobile technology, these people would be considered 'super users' who drive revenue — the kinds of folks you want to stick around and keep using the app all the time," Ms. Farr writes. Bob Kocher, MD, a Doctor on Demand board member, told Ms. Farr that regardless of revenue, telehealth companies will have a responsibility to investigate how these type of "super user" cases are handled.
However, identifying frequent users of telehealth might prove challenging. One barrier is lack of data exchange, since separate telehealth companies don't tend to share patient information with one another.
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