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Invited Commentary
May 2016

Health Care Communication Technology and Improved Access, Continuity, and Relationships: The Revolution Will Be Uberized

Author Affiliations
  • 1Division of General Internal Medicine and Primary Care, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
  • 2Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
JAMA Intern Med. 2016;176(5):643-644. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.0692

Rapid changes in technology have created the potential for a major disruption in health care. A host of new health care companies claim to want to revolutionize health care in the same way Uber and others are revolutionizing transportation. Companies such as Pager, Medicast, Heal, and RetraceHealth allow people to summon nurses and physicians to their homes. Studio Dental brings a mobile dentist office to workplaces. Companies such as Zipdrug and Postmeds provide on-demand pharmacy delivery. Teladoc, AmericanWell, MeMD, MDLIVE and others address urgent care problems by providing online access to physicians. During this proliferation, some have asked whether patients, in the search for accessible, on-demand care, are sacrificing continuity or quality.1

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