Telehealth requires expansion of physicians’ communication competencies training

We are in the midst of transformation of health systems where remote consulting (via video, telephone, email, and mobile messaging) is soon to become the dominant mode of consultation. Most of the literature on telehealth omits mentioning the need for telehealth communication competencies. Yet evidence base has been growing about how critical this training is–whether from clinical communication research or litigation claims analysis. In this article, we are calling for an urgent expansion of communication skills curricula to encompass these new telehealth domains from medical schools, specialty trainings to CMEs.