Take a look at this article in Forbes. It’s called Primary Care Is Increasingly Going Virtual. What Does This Mean For Healthcare? The answer, in my opinion, is that it depends on who is doing it. If it is a Direct Primary Care doctor, who knows his or her patients really well, then great. It is an excellent adjunct. But that is not what the article is about. Here are some highlights:

• The latest company to work on this is CVS Health, which announced last week that it will be launching a comprehensive virtual primary care solution. 
• One of the most prominent recent ventures has been Amazon’s Care platform, which aims to “help manage your primary care and preventive health concerns […and…] promote[s] health and wellness through disease prevention and help[s] manage long-term medical conditions.”
• Traditional healthcare entities are also entering this race. Take for example Baylor Scott & White, which is one of the largest hospital systems in the country; the system will now offer virtual visits 24/7, connecting patients with a healthcare provider on demand.

So, what does the above mean for healthcare? Ummm, how about the high chance of sh$tty care. You CANNOT do everything virtually. I don’t give a crap what the brilliant Big Tech people think. They didn’t go to medical school. There is NO replacement for knowing a patient. There is NO replacement for being in the room and doing a real physical exam. Virtual Gestalt is not a thing.

Then there is this quote:

Creagh Milford, D.O., Vice President of Enterprise Virtual Care at the company, explains: “We’re meeting people where they are on their health care journey and providing care that is more convenient and easier to access […] By offering a connected care team where providers can easily exchange clinical information on behalf of their patients, and an extensive local footprint for in-person care follow-up, we’re able to provide consistent, high-quality care. This model shifts from reactive to proactive care that can ultimately improve outcomes and help lower costs.”

Have you heard a bigger load of bullsh$t in your life? I just love the buzzword terms that mean nothing like:

• Health Care Journey (Is this like Frodo and Sam looking for some type of healthcare ring?)
• Connected Care Team (I used to love the kid’s game Connect 4. Is this the same thing?)
• Extensive Local Footprint (Is that a Bigfoot reference?)
• Improve Outcomes and Lower Costs? (Where have we heard that before?)

Lastly, the term virtual is also very interesting. It basically means not the real thing. Direct Primary Care only adds the VIRTUAL piece to the REAL thing. That will work. All the other examples above are just money grabs by greedy corporations.

Prove me wrong.