Reimagining Relationship-Based Health Care in a Post-COVID World

Abstract

The US health care system has a long history of discouraging the creation and maintenance of meaningful relationships between patients and providers. Fee-for-service payment models, the 1-directional, paternalistic approach of care providers, electronic health records, anddocumentation requirements, all present barriers to the development of meaningful relationships in clinic visits. As patients and providers adopt and experiment with telemedicine and other systems changes to accommodate the impact of Coronavirus disease 2019, there is an opportunity to reimagine visits entirely—both office-based and virtual—and leverage technology to transform a unidirectional model into one that values relationships as critical facilitators of health and well-being for both patients and providers.