Optimizing Medical Care in Audio-Only Patient Management

Authors

  • Taylor R. Spencer, MD, MPH Divisional Medical Director for Landmark First, Optum Home & Community, Optum, Eden Prairie, Minnesota, USA https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5813-1981
  • Kathryn S. Miner, DO Divisional Medical Director for Landmark First, Optum Home & Community, Optum, Eden Prairie, Minnesota, USA https://orcid.org/0009-0001-3995-6136
  • Jason P. Williams, MD Associate Medical Director for Landmark First, Optum Home & Community, Optum, Eden Prairie, Minnesota, USA https://orcid.org/0009-0001-8420-7273
  • Thomas E. Charlton, MD, MHSA National Medical Director for Field-Based Acute Care, Landmark Health, Optum Home & Community, Optum, Eden Prairie, Minnesota, USA

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30953/thmt.v10.546

Keywords:

Audio, audio-only care, patient care, physical examination, telemedicine, triage

Abstract

The article addresses a critical challenge in the use of telemedicine and remote assessment of patients.  While the recent growth of telemedicine has focused on optimizing the promises and opportunities inherent in video platforms, a large portion of care is still given by telephone or audio-only.   There has not been a corresponding focus on how best to leverage audio-only care, or even how it is different from the standard process of obtaining a history in in-person care.   The article focuses on the priorities for audio-only patient management.   It further provides some suggested best practices and a conceptual framework for audio-only patient management.     The article concludes with a systems-based summary of the audio-only patient assessment, including suggestions for leveraging the audio-only encounter more effectively.  Effective use of audio-only encounters requires an appreciation of both the limitations inherent in these encounters and recognition of the opportunities to optimize the patient assessment.

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Published

2025-03-31

How to Cite

Spencer, T., Miner, K. ., Williams, J., & Charlton, T. (2025). Optimizing Medical Care in Audio-Only Patient Management. Telehealth and Medicine Today, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.30953/thmt.v10.546

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 1 (2025): Telehealth and Medicine Today

Section

Narrative/Systematic Reviews/Meta-Analysis

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Taylor Spencer, Kathryn Miner, Jason Williams, Thomas Charlton

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Authors retain copyright of their work, with first publication rights granted to  Telehealth and Medicine Today (THMT).

THMT is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.