NYU Langone Health recently expanded its telemedicine initiative so doctors like Collin E. Brathwaite, MD, chair of surgery at NYU Winthrop Hospital, can continue to see patients during the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Dr. Brathwaite specializes in general surgery as well as weight loss surgery, and sees patients at Winthrop Surgical Associates.

“It allows doctors to have access from anywhere, especially at this point in time with limited travel and people being told to stay home,” Dr. Brathwaite tells Long Island Weekly.

NYU Langone doctors and patients are embracing video doctor visits, with more than 4,000 appointments being made on average every day.

“Patients come to see me from all over, from the East End to the other side of Brooklyn,” Dr. Brathwaite says. “It hurts me when I have a patient from upstate New York driving an hour and a half to visit me for a half hour appointment. Then, they have to make the trek back. With telemedicine, they don’t need to be on the highway stuck in traffic.”

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