Grand Rapids Herald Review reports…

Chatting with your doctor via video about your health issues works just as well as an in-person office visit, at least when it comes to managing chronic illnesses, a new review suggests.

Replacing office visits with video checkups delivered results that were just as effective for patients being treated for conditions like diabetes, respiratory illnesses, chronic pain, heart problems and neurological disorders, researchers reported recently in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

“In general, the evidence shows that using video teleconferencing in health care results in outcomes that are just as good as and in some cases better than in-person care,” said lead researcher Jordan Albritton, a public health analyst with RTI International, a nonprofit research institute in Research Triangle Park, N.C.

Despite these findings, experts maintain that in-person physical exams remain essential to quality health care, particularly for new patients who have just fallen ill.