It's not always Occam's razor: the pivotal role of telemedicine in stroke patients amidst the COVID-19 pandemic

The cost of healthcare in the US grew exponentially between the years 1970 and 2016, with a documented increase of 0.243% per year on average [1]. In 2007, at the inception of the era of crippling economic, the economy witnessed a 17.7% cost increase by 2019 [2]. Contributing to this upward trend of healthcare expenditure was the advent of telemedicine. On one hand, these disruptive technologies have positively correlated with healthcare expenditure. Contrary to this, however, it is important to factor the proportion of people that may not be able to afford healthcare overall as a consequence of increased inflation [1]. These figures arose significantly since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has overwhelmed and crippled healthcare systems globally. Nevertheless, it is in the midst of the pandemic that remote measures such as telemedicine are most needed.