Howard Fillit, MD: Telemedicine and Tech in the Future Care of Alzheimer and Dementia

“Alzheimer patients can often be confused, and I think actually seeing the patient through a video conferencing platform can be really advantageous as opposed to just a plain phone call.”

As more and more physicians begin to utilize telemedicine and video conferencing platforms to reach their patients in this time of pandemic, many have begun to think forward to the possible impact this may have on medicine. The overall consensus appears to be that this will push telemedicine forward in a way that, perhaps, may have been long overdue.

Although, even if this is the metaphorical push forward that was required to get telemedicine to this point, there are still challenges to be addressed in incorporating it into the daily care of patients. Howard Fillit, MD, founding executive director and chief science officer, Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation, told NeurologyLive that the main obstacle to overcome is a small one—that really, it’s just finding how to mesh its use into the day’s workflow. For his patients, who are geriatric and often have Alzheimer and dementia, he sees this as a positive to improving their care.

In this interview, Fillit provides insight into his experiences so far with this technology. He also expands on what he foresees the future of Alzheimer and dementia care to look like, and more specifically, how this may not only move telemedicine forward, but could positively affect the assimilation of a number of other technologies into daily care.