Welcome to If Then, the show about how technology is changing our lives and our future.

I'm Shannon Paulus.

Hey, everyone, welcome to If Then.

We're coming to you from Slate and Future Tense, a partnership between Slate, Arizona State University, and New America.

We are recording this on the afternoon of Tuesday, July 2nd.

On today's show, we'll talk about the growing telehealth industry, which allows patients to

complete a visit at the doctor via video chat, or even just a secure message system.

To figure out the benefits and potential drawbacks of telehealth,

I'll talk to Roy Schoenberg, president and CEO of American Well,

one of the first big players in the space.

After the interview, my colleague Aaron Mack will join me for Don't Close My Tabs,

where we'll talk about the best things we saw on the web this week.

That's all coming up on if then.

On July 10th, Future Tense and the Just Space Alliance will be holding an event in Washington, D.C.,

called How Will We Govern Ourselves in Space? The focus will be on how we might ensure that our next frontier is one that reflects our most humane and democratic values. Then, on July

11th, Future Tense will host a screening and discussion of the 1996 movie Mars Attacks. That's also

in Washington, D.C. For information on both events, go to slate.com slash live. Okay, it's time to talk about the growing telehealth industry. If you don't already know,

that's where patients meet with medical doctors or mental health professionals remotely,

via video chat, or even just secure email messages, instead of physically going into a doctor's

office. It's still a fairly new practice, and the regulatory framework is

still being figured out. In some cases, Tel Health is even inverting the way we access meds. I recently

reported on sites like Hymns, Hers, and Kik that have you meet with a doctor over just a few short

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