LIFESTYLE
HEALTH AND FITNESS
TELEMEDICINE MOVES FORWARD IN THE COVID ERA By: Louis Fortis
P
board-certified in family and
What are the advantages for a patient of telemedicine?
integrative medicine. She is the
As I mentioned above, telemedicine
hysician Tiffany Mullen is
former medical director of integrative
simplifies the care experience. In a time
medicine at Aurora Health Care and is
when women are stretched with not
currently CEO and cofounder of Vytal
only their work but also the manage-
Health, a Milwaukee-based telemedicine
ment of their home, their own and their
startup company. We spoke recently
family’s health, being able to access
about the challenges and opportunities
care anytime, anywhere takes a lot
posed to medicine during the pandemic.
of the stress of out the process. Who wants to get a babysitter, take a long
The Shepherd Express interviewed you in April. You had left Aurora Health care in 2018 to found Vytal Health. Please remind our readers of what Vytal Health does in the area of telemedicine.
drive across town, sit in a waiting room with sick people and wait for a doctor running behind? It didn’t work before and it doesn’t work now. It’s just not necessary to settle for that anymore. problems can be managed via telemed-
Most telemedicine companies focus
icine. Moreover, there are more and
on treating urgent care problems (sore
more medical devices that can be inte-
throats, sinus infections, etc.), but
grated into the telemedicine platform
Vytal Health provides a unique form of
that patients can have at home, for
telemedicine. We deliver ongoing care
example, heart rate monitors, scales,
to women who are very busy and have
tools to listen to the heart and lungs,
medical problems that are often over-
etc. These telemedicine-ready tools are
looked and undertreated in the typical
available right now, and care is moving
rushed 10-15-minute office visit. We
in the direction of being at the hands of
focus on developing a long-standing relationship with the patient, solving their health problems (instead of just covering symptoms with multiple prescriptions), and create a personalized approach to achieve health now and into the future. We just happen to do this via telemedicine, so it is convenient, simple and accessible.
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the patient, with help from the doctor
Seems like a great option for most care. What are some of the challenges of telemedicine?
via video, of course, making it so much
The obvious disadvantage of deliver-
How has the pandemic changed your business? I assume that telemedicine is playing a much larger role at this time when many people are afraid to go into a hospital or clinic.
ing care via telemedicine is that if the patient needs to be examined, this can sometimes be challenging. That said, it is estimated that 70% of all medical
more convenient and just as effective.
