Direct-to-Consumer Academic Telemedicine

Joshua W Elder; Daniel Stein; Tamara L Scott

doi:10.1089/tmr.2022.0001

Direct-to-Consumer Academic Telemedicine

Telemed Rep. 2022 Mar 9;3(1):62-66. doi: 10.1089/tmr.2022.0001. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Joshua W Elder^{1

2}, Daniel Stein³, Tamara L Scott⁴

Affiliations

¹ UC Davis Health, Sacramento, California, USA.
² Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento, California, USA.
³ Department of Innovation Technology, UC Davis Health, Sacramento, California, USA.
⁴ Department of Ambulatory Practice Innovation, UC Davis Health, Sacramento, California, USA.

Abstract

Over the past 2 years, telemedicine has skyrocketed as COVID-19 propelled innovation and implementation at unparalleled rates. Within the UC Davis academic health system, a new paradigm for telemedicine emerged: direct-to-consumer telemedicine. The video-based telemedicine program has become the largest of its kind in California and is staffed by 80 providers (MDs, APPs) across five clinical departments/groups (primary care practice group, family and community medicine department, emergency medicine department, the nursing department, and the physical medicine and rehabilitation department). September 2021 marked the 1-year anniversary of a journey that has opened access, improved coordination, and become a workforce engine for our evolving virtual health infrastructure.

Keywords: direct-to-consumer; on demand; telehealth; telemedicine.