Clinical implications of telemedicine for providers and patients.

Overview

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in paradigm shifts in the delivery of health care. Lockdowns, quarantines, and local mandates forced many physician practices around the United States to move to remote patient visits and adoption of telemedicine. This has several long-term implications in the future practice of medicine. In this review we outline different models of integrating telemedicine into both male and female fertility practices and recommendations on performing video physical examinations. Moving forward we foresee two general models of integration: one conservative, where initial intake and follow-up is performed remotely, and a second model where most visits are performed via video and patients are only seen preoperatively if necessary. We also discuss the impact THAT telemedicine has on coding and billing and our experience with patient satisfaction.