By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – We’re getting used to working and doing other business remotely, and medical care is no exception.

Rural health was the subject of a recent Southern Illinois University School of Medicine webinar, and one panelist described the initial reaction to telehealth.

“There were a lot of voices, a lot of difference of opinion. Some people were very worried about telehealth,” said Eric Hargen, a public health consultant who formerly was an official at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “Providers were often worried that they would be out-competed by big-city practices and big-city health care institutions that would take what they had remaining.”

Another panelist, Sameer Vohra, said the phenomenon is forcing us to rethink the way we do health care. “The standard way of, you go to a clinic and get seen by somebody, or you go to the hospital – i think we should openly ask if that makes sense anymore especially when that is so hard to do in these areas with remote populations,” he said.

Vohra is a founding chair of the Department of Population Science and Policy at the school of medicine.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected].