NYU Langone Health’s Department of Neurology was already planning on rolling out telehealth visits for patients slowly in 2020, expanding upon a pilot program that targeted urgent care patients. But when the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic hit in March 2020, Neil Busis, MD, neurologist and associate chair of technology and innovation in the department, says all they had to do was use the same platform that merged the patient’s portal, the patient’s chart, and video doctor visits for neurology patients.

NYU Langone, along with countless health systems, moved fast to allow patients to stay home and maintain care. A portion of visits have stayed virtual even with providers moving to in-person appointments again, according to a report from Vizient, Inc. In January 2021, 40 percent of neurology visits were still conducted using telehealth, based on more than 26 million visits across 96,500 providers and 18,000 locations.

Dr. Busis tells Modern Healthcare that neurology was and still remains ripe for virtual care because many conditions are associated with impaired mobility, ability to drive, and cognition. “Neurologists can have patients hold out their hands, stand up, walk around and observe their movements to gauge disease progress,” say Dr. Busis.

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