Telemedicine use in neonatal follow-up programs - what can we do and what we can't - lessons learned from COVID-19

DeMauro, Sara B.; Duncan, Andrea F.; Hurt, Hallam

Little empirical data support the use of telemedicine to provide medical and developmental follow-up care to preterm and high-risk infants after hospital discharge. Nevertheless, the COVID-19 pandemic temporarily rendered telemedicine the only means by which to provide essential follow-up care to this population. In this article we discuss our institution's experience with rapid implementation of telemedicine in a multi-site neonatal follow-up program as well as benefits and limitations of the use of telemedicine in this context. Finally, we discuss the current problems that must be solved in order to optimize telemedicine as a tool for providing comprehensive, multidisciplinary medical and developmental care to high risk infants and their families.