Video Visits with Your Pediatrician: When is Telemedicine a Good Option for My Child?
Published on in CHOP News
Published on in CHOP News
A telemedicine visit (also called telehealth or video visits) is an online visit where you connect with your child’s clinical team face-to-face, in real time without leaving your home. Your family uses a smartphone to meet your physician via a secure and HIPAA compliant connection on MyCHOP. Telehealth visits can also be done via a tablet.
The availability of video visits has been shown to increase patient satisfaction and decrease missed appointments, improving care as a result. When appropriate, video visits may provide you and your child access to the high level of care CHOP is known for, from the comfort of your home. Families who have used telehealth have noted benefits like not needing to drive to an appointment or find parking, the ability to maintain physical distancing, minimizing exposure to other sick children, and not needing to miss work.
Here, we provide some details on the benefits of primary care video visits and which health issues might be best for a visit via video. Please ask your provider if a video visit is right for your child’s health issue and care needs. You should also check with your health plan to make sure your insurance covers video visits with your CHOP provider.
Primary care providers can use telemedicine video visits to “see” their patients for a wide variety of chief complaints. Video visits allow the pediatrician to lay eyes on the child to assess the child’s general appearance and overall well-being. This visual evaluation is often considered the most important part of a pediatric physical exam.
Video visits may allow us to see patients that would otherwise be unable to come into the office for an in-person visit and, therefore, potentially increase access to the care that we are able to provide.
We may be able to use digital health tools to:
We may be able to offer primary care video visits for the below list of concerns provided they can be evaluated safely. Video visits may be offered for other issues, depending on the circumstance. Your provider will determine if a video visit is right for your child’s health issue and care needs.
Behavioral health
Dermatology**
Infectious disease
Allergy
GI/Nutrition
Follow up
Other
**For all dermatologic conditions, photographs must be uploaded to MyCHOP prior to the appointment. This ensures image clarity and the ability for the physician to view the condition ahead of time and request an in-person visit if necessary.