Deborah Friedman, MD, MPH: Coordinating Care in Telemedicine

“I personally find it very helpful to exam patients in the office, but for people who live remotely and don’t have access to a headache specialist, perhaps they could get their eye exam done locally, and whoever is on the other end of the telemedicine performing the visit could use that information.”

Recently, telemedicine has emerged as a potential candidate to increase care access for patients across a number of conditions. Now, data from Deborah Friedman, MD, MPH, professor of neurology, neurotherapeutics, and ophthalmology, UT Southwestern, and colleagues have suggested it can provide good care for patients with migraine.

At the 2019 American Headache Society Annual Meeting, July 11-14, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Friedman sat with NeurologyLive^® to share her insight into the trial and its findings. Specifically, she spoke about the trial’s design, which featured an initial visit in person to Friedman’s practice. She noted that while this isn’t necessarily required anymore, it can certainly help the physician establish a relationship with the patient.

Although, for those who cannot attend an in-person meeting, care can be coordinated with local providers to collect other information, such as eye examinations. In fact, in her trial, patients were required to obtain a number of data points, such as weight and blood pressure measurements, themselves. As such, Friedman shared further insight into how this coordination can ensure the success of telemedicine. For more on Friedman's study, click here.

For more coverage of AHS 2019, click here.

REFERENCE

Friedman DI, Rajan B, Seidmann A. A randomized trial of telemedicine for migraine management. Presented at: 2019 American Headache Society Annual Meeting. July 11-14, 2019; Philadelphia, PA. Abstract LBOR01.