The Expert Podcast

…For many years telemedicine was pitched as the new wave of healthcare service where you can actually get. A lot of healthcare. resources or consultation without having to go in person. To a medical facility. Tele-health pediment telemedicine whatever you want to call It…actually became very popular during the pandemic when people didn't want to go. any place in person especially a medical facility. And one of the areas where telehealth or telemedicine. was thought to be, very. like a big potential was in the mental health arena because mental health almost by definition. You don't actually have to see somebody to take their blood, to you know take their temperature check their heartbeat. It's almost…by definition a more conversational process. So there were many online companies that popped up that. Presented mental health. Online treatment. The problem is a lot of these companies got too big for the britches They grew too fast So there were problems. And this wall street journal article talks about some of them. That. Maybe is leading bad taste in the mouth of people who try to access these services. A couple of examples that are featured in this article or cerebral. is one of them and done global. You know the short story is that it raised hundreds of billions of dollars in venture capital money. And they had some high profile spokespeople and they launched. With high expectations In fact, one had a value of 5 billion within a couple of years after starting out. And they got into trouble because they started prescribing drugs. That may be were over prescribed or abused…And. They were talking about. Profitability because of prescribing these drugs. Right. And now they have some investigations. Because they may be prescribed too much, so much. In fact that two large prescription providers Walmart and CVS will no longer fill their prescriptions because they don't think that it's good enough of a, of a legitimate referral to be giving out these kinds of drugs. in one case a major company was run by a former Facebook product man. with no medical training. Right. And they advertise on social media. and they had the same thing happen Walmart and CVS. Fill their prescriptions…A lot of these companies were thought to be disruptors meaning that they want to do things in a different way That's more efficient. Well one of the things that was a good quote in your article, Is. A…Internal insider from one of these companies said it's one thing to be disruptive, but there's a reason that medicine is encumbered by regulations. They're dealing with people's lives. Right. And one of the companies said they aim to provide low threshold access to medication. Well, medication might need higher threshold. Access because it's important to make sure that there's no. Side effects or no other problems with giving out some of these drugs. And the last example talked about was Talkspace And you've seen those ads right This is, therapy. Consultation or con. counseling. By tele-health. To work through anxiety and family relationship problems. easy to sign up for, but a lot of the customers. found that it was a little bit off-putting. In one case. The therapists. Looked unprofessional. He said the therapist switched between rooms ended up on a couch with the kitchen in the background, people walking behind them So that's not really private. And another one. That the therapist was a passenger in a car. And they stopped for gas. Could hear the driver get out I could see the gas pumps. It doesn't seem like a place where she can listen to me intently So these consultations were not being done in a very secure closed environment without. just like they ask you to do as, as a patient. And part of the reason is that because there was an increased demand during the pandemic. And it lowered the bar for training for some of these therapists counselors and even other medical. personnel. So there's a big potential for telehealth and telemedicine, but the fast growth may have created some problems that have to be worked through before it comes a more mainstream and accepted type of way to. obtain. healthcare remotely.