Remote Health: Optimizing the Delivery of Sexual Health Care

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Melissa A. Habel, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Patrick S Sullivan, Emory University; Christopher Hall, University of California, San Francisco; Sevgi Aral, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Language: English
• Date: 2022-03-21
• Publisher: Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2022, Written work prepared by employees of the Federal Government as part of their official duties is, under the U.S. Copyright Act, a "œwork of the United States Government"œ for which copyright protection under Title 17 of the United States Code is not available. As such, copyright does not extend to the contributions of employees of the Federal Government.
• Final Published Version (URL): https://doi.org/10.1097/OLQ.0000000000001618
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Sexually Transmitted Diseases
• Volume: 49
• Issue: 11
• Start Page: S1
• End Page: S6
• Grant/Funding Information: No sources of funding to be disclosed.
• Keywords: telehealth; COVID-19; telemedicine; remote health care
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Public Health; Health Sciences, Health Care Management

Abstract

Remote health care, including telehealth or telemedicine, has slowly evolved since the 1800s with the advent of the telegraph and telephone.1 Telehealth is the use of electronic information and telecommunication technologies to provide care when an individual and his/her/their health care provider are not in the same place at the same time.2 For the purpose of this supplement, “remote health care” includes all the different modalities health care providers can use to remotely interact, diagnose, treat, and monitor their patients. Remote care takes a broader perspective to consider how new communication technologies can complement in-person communication in public health clinics. Promising uses of new technology include assessing symptomatic patients via telephone triage, offering remote testing and diagnosis (e.g., laboratory, pharmacy/retail clinic, at-home/mail-in) via self-collection of specimens and self-tests, Internet or text-based appointment reminders and test results (i.e., remote patient monitoring), or video appointments. In general, remote care encounters can occur synchronously (phone or video session) or asynchronously (patient communication separated in time and space through messaging platforms).3 At its core, remote health is human-centric; it satisfies a patient’s clinical needs, at his/her/their convenience, and removes barriers to the patient’s health improvement. However, as with the introduction of any new technology or service, unintended consequences arise.4