Few physicians or patients have not been affected by the sudden expansion of telemedicine in the past year, which ballooned into mainstream clinical practice in 2020 as a technological patch laid over the holes in healthcare access caused by the upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet even though telemedicine may feel like an useful if uncomfortably new medium to most practitioners or patients today, the theory and practice of this “medicine at a distance” were laid out more than five decades ago. This talk traces the history of telemedicine back to its origins in demonstration projects in the 1960s and 1970s that promised to use this technology to erase racial, ethnic, economic, and geographic disparities in access to medical care. The successes and failures of these programs shed light on why we continue to seek technological solutions for the structural failings of the American healthcare system, even as it far remains from clear whether these technologies erase or further entrench existing health disparities.
Zoom Link: https://yale.zoom.us/j/2036270588
Contact: patricia.brunetto@yale.edu