MedStar Health reaches 500K telehealth visits during pandemic

The MedStar Health system has logged more than 500,000 video visits in this pandemic-transformed year, a milestone that showcases how telehealth has transformed medical services such as primary care, behavioral health and even cardiology.

The half-million online visits that had occurred by last week included individuals who were hospitalized as well as many outpatients, officials said. The number surpasses the hospitals’ usual number of telehealth appointments, which in recent years have numbered in the hundreds, or the low thousands.

Telehealth visits became a central part of trying to manage the spread of the novel coronavirus, with many hospitals and medical offices expanding their online capacity so patients who were under shutdown orders or concerned about exposure could still receive care.