The Rise in the Use of Telehealth and Associated Documentation Challenges

There is a common misconception about when telehealth started. Many people, especially patients, believe that telehealth came into existence during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. In reality, the concept of telehealth/telemedicine was already thought of by inventors like Hugo Gernsback back in 1925 with his invention called the “Teledactyl.” This device concept would allow providers to see patients through a video screen and “feel at a distance” with specific instruments that a provider can use to manipulate the device in the patient’s room at the same time from afar. Unfortunately, this device concept was never made into reality, but Gernsback did effectively predict and envision the future of telehealth using technology.