Maria I. Danila, MD, MSc, MSPH

Our understanding of how to best use telemedicine for rheumatology patients began with our need to care for patients with chronic illness during the height of the COVID pandemic.

While telemedicine was a much-needed tool to maintain contact with patients when social distancing was a major priority, now that restrictions have been eased, we are beginning to understand how else telemedicine might be used to improve patient care.

Many of our patients live in rural and/or underserved areas and have trouble traveling for their appointments. Even as we open more clinic locations and train more providers, we still have patients who are out of reach due to the substantial burden of travel. 

Thanks to an Innovative Research Award from the Rheumatology Research Foundation, a multi-site study on patient satisfaction with telemedicine led by Dr. Maria Danila will help us determine if telemedicine can be used to alleviate some of that burden.