Digital Medical Home: The Telemedicine Revolution Ignited the Creation of Precision Health examines the progression of telemedicine and how it has impacted the quality of health care as well as the future possibilities for patient care. Why was this an important book for you to write?

Telemedicine took a very long time from its inception to becoming mainstream. The journey was filled with challenges and surprises that would entertain many readers, teach entrepreneurs, and educate the reader.  Dr Sanders, the Father of Telemedicine, is now 86, and we wanted to record his story while he was young and sharp enough to relay it in a meaningful way.

This is such a fast-changing field, both from the medical side and the technology side. How much research did you undertake for this book, and how much time did it take to put it all together?

The book took three months to write.  It is intentionally short because we wanted to hold the reader’s attention in a concise document. Dr. Sanders and I (Michael Gorton) lived the history, so research was more about pulling old notes, emails, and documents.

Did you find anything in your research of this book that surprised you?

Again, we lived the history, so the main surprise is just how little people are aware of the history.  Interestingly, acceptance of telemedicine has grown exponentially, as shown by an ATA study two years ago.  See graph:

What is one thing that you hope readers take away from Digital Medical Home?

The story and history are great, but mostly, we wanted to entertain and educate.