Twenty Minutes into the Future
I got a look into the future last week while standing in the present as I slipped into the past. Okay, let’s see if I can make some sense out of this. I’ve been going to physical therapy for the last two weeks for my aching back, which—praise the Lord—is finally showing some signs of improvement. The facility is a cozy little spot on 75th Street, about a 15‑minute walk from my house. The reception area is very small, and the first thing I saw when I walked in was a widescreen TV displaying the image of a young man wearing headphones. My doctor’s office has a TV in the waiting area that seems permanently stuck on NY1, so I thought nothing of the setup at the PT facility—until this fellow started speaking to me. It turns out I had come face‑to‑widescreen‑face with a growing healthcare trend called a Virtual Front Desk (VFD), or video‑enabled virtual receptionist kiosk. While remote telephone answering services have existed for decades, streaming a live, dedicated receptio...