• August 2008 FEATURE ARTICLES •
From the Editor
Lowered Expectations
by Michael McBride
It’s been a long time since I expected
anything other than glossed over, sound bite journalism from the
mainstream media, so Good Morning America’s sophomoric
May 28 "report" titled "Does Telemedicine Work?" really
shouldn’t distress me, but it does.
I have nothing against ABC News for
running such a specious segment. That most Americans will accept
it as fact is my concern. Few viewers will know that
telemedicine is used successfully worldwide to deliver diagnoses
and procedural instructions to patients in remote and rural
areas; to victims of floods and other disasters; to enhance and
expand ED capabilities; and, to improve and extend care in the home.
Dozens of recent examples would have been available to the
authors of the facile little broadcast, had they done a simple
Internet search.
The Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services (CMS) think highly enough of telemedicine to
reimburse physicians for treatments involving telemedicine
technology. CMS also encourages the States to "use the
flexibility inherent in federal law to create innovative payment
methodologies for services that incorporate telemedicine
technology." It would appear that the U.S. Government thinks
telemedicine "works."
I culled the following quotes (some of which
were made by M.D.s) from comments posted on ABC’s Web
site following the broadcast:
"I feel the kind of skewed reporting I saw on
ABC is irresponsible and ultimately causes panic in the
public where there should be none."
"I felt the doctor doing this report did not
give these services a fair evaluation."
"The National center for Policy Analysis
(NCPA) has recently released a report [titled] ‘Convenient Care
and Telemedicine’ (NCPA Policy Report No. 305) that outlines the
problems with healthcare delivery and the solutions telemedicine
is providing."
"...it’s a very poor story indeed. Dr. Savard (GMA’s
medical contributor) seems to have a pre-judgment against online
medicine, which surely has its place."
"The heart of this issue is convenience,
information and gaining confidence to make good decisions.
Diagnosing cancer online is ridiculous … the conclusion of the
story seems to have been written before it even began."
HMT’s readers "get" that telemedicine works.
However, let’s remind ourselves that healthcare consumers rely
on us to know the truth about such matters, and for critical
guidance in their decision making.
It’s a responsibility I wish TV news
producers understood.
