Virtual doctor visits soar in Greater Baltimore as coronavirus spreads (Baltimore Business Journal)

Baltimore Business Journal reports on soaring use of telemedicine both for patients and healthcare professionals. Kaiser Permanente has seen virtual patient care visits grow by 800% in just two weeks—now 60% of the organization’s patient visits right now. LifeBridge and Johns Hopkins are relying on telemedicine to keep their own workforces safe, partnering with emocha to monitor employees and ensure that they are symptom-free when they come into work. While emocha typically uses its software to ensure that patients take their medicine on time and correctly, the company has partnered with Johns Hopkins since the Ebola outbreak to monitor wellness and potential symptoms in potentially exposed clinical staff. CEO Sebastian Seiguer told Baltimore Business Journal, “Our job is to keep a close eye on people, so at any given time, occupational health teams can know who is asymptomatic and who is symptomatic.”