How Virtual-First Care is Transforming the Role of Physicians

By Carolyn Bradner Jasik, MD

When newly minted medical school graduates enter the field, many discover the strange reality of the profession: they don’t spend much time caring for members. First-year doctors, in fact, spend 87% of their time on other responsibilities, such as updating electronic medical records, communicating with other physicians or viewing images, according to a 2019 University of Pennsylvania study.

Delivery of care is, arguably, the most broken aspect of the $3.8 trillion healthcare industry. This is due, in part, to the woefully inefficient systems that support appointment scheduling, communication issues, relaying data from member to doctor and other day-to-day functions that overburden physicians.