1. Telemedicine and the patient-empty hospital “Spending on telemedicine will quadruple. Tech- nologies in place need to be scaled up, and the ca- pabilities that exist will need to be knitted together along the continuum of care, and internalised with the electronic patient record.” The COVID-19 pandemic made healthcare providers and patients acutely aware of the convenience of telemedicine. Since 2020, patients and providers have increasingly embraced emerging technologies that allow for and encourage remote consulta- tions and follow-ups. Following this path, spend- ing on telemedicine is ex- pected to quadruple from now until 2025. Providers and patients are continu- ing to realise the poten- tial benefits of remote monitoring and diag- nosing, and technolo- gies are catching up to the convenience of home-based health care solutions. Looking forward, better telemedicine infrastructure and technol- ogies will give patients the freedom to stay at home for routine monitoring and treatment. This will advance the goal of a ‘pa- tient-empty hospital’, meaning a hospital in which resources and beds are directed toward caring for the most critical cases. 3
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