Dr. Jeffrey Kuvin, MD, senior vice president of cardiology at New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health, discussed the importance of staying connected with patients and telehealth's role in cardiology during a recent episode of the Becker's Healthcare cardiology podcast.
Here is an excerpt from the podcast. Click here to download the full episode.
Editor's note: This response was lightly edited for length and clarity.
Question: How do you see heart care in general evolving over the next 18 months?
Dr. Jeffrey Kuvin: We need to think about what we just went through in COVID-19 and take some lessons learned from the COVID-19 playbook as we pivot to the next year or two. One thing we did learn was really the importance of telehealth. I think you're going to see this continue to evolve in not only heart care, but also all of healthcare. We need to make sure that we, as healthcare providers, are more flexible in how we interact with patients. Instead of having our patients come to us, we need to meet them halfway. And seeing patients in a virtual environment, I think brings a unique perspective. You can often talk to family members. You can often see in the background what their environments are like and then change or think about how that has an influence on their healthcare. I'm not saying that telehealth is our only future, but we need to think about flexibility as we continue on this healthcare journey. And something that COVID-19 taught us was that even at a distance, we need to remain connected with our patients.