Virtually everything we interact with these days allows for a high degree of personal choice, whether it be the precise toppings and condiments you want on your fast food hamburger, the color and style of your smart phone case, or even the options and personalization you can put on the car you own. We are a long way from that famous quote attributed to Henry Ford, when at a sales meeting stated, “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black”.
Choices
But what about choosing things that are truly important to your well being? Are you truly free to choose a doctor of your liking? Are you limited by the number of clinicians in your local geographic area, or are you limited by the insurance plan your employer has chosen to offer? In a world that values a high degree of choice, sometimes in healthcare our options are more limited than we’d like, especially when one’s healthcare wishes conflict with the dominant culture’s understanding of the human person.
As Catholics we work hard to navigate these limited options in hopes of finding a clinician to whom we can entrust our children, spouses and other family members. We want the ability to pick an excellent clinician who is also guided by the ethical and moral principles of our faith.
Telehealth Increases Access And Increases Your Options
The only solution to this problem is to increase the number of faithful clinicians who are available for you to choose from. And although your hometown may be a great place to live, we can’t just keep waiting for a new springtime for Catholic healthcare in our local geographic area.
Instead, we have to look outward to the emerging world of Catholic telehealth. Telehealth overcomes the geographic barriers and gives you the ability to choose the clinician you want to see. For example, a Colorado patient struggling with PCOS could seek help from a Catholic ObGyn licensed in Colorado but who resides in New York.
Much Can Be Done!
Much of healthcare can be done over telehealth because the clinical knowledge, experience and diagnostic skills reside with the clinician who you will meet and interact with during your telehealth consultations. And much of the diagnostic information your clinician may require is easily obtained through your local lab and imaging center that are electronically connected to your clinicians health record system.
Are there limitations with telehealth? Yes, of course. But there are many many situations where telehealth works very very well.
Give Catholic telehealth a try next time you need to see a doctor. See the doctor you choose… and there are many wonderful Catholic clinicians out there to choose from.
