Telemedicine holds the promise of giving some of our time back. And it may have other advantages. Care delivered in this way requires no travel, and if one waits at all it’s at home or work, not at a doctor’s office. In an era of FaceTime and Skype, patients are starting to expect more convenient access to doctors. The vast majority of patients report that they want to be able to communicate with their doctors by email. Perhaps for this reason, the market for telemedicine is growing rapidly.

Some insurers are embracing it. For example, Kaiser Permanente of Northern California offers its patients 10-to-15-minute telephone visits as well as a secure website where patients can message back and forth with their doctors.

Half its visits are virtual, and its executive director and C.E.O. reported that 80 percent of its dermatology cases involving rashes are resolved by digital communication. The Veterans Health Administration’s growing telemedicine program is credited with reducing time patients spend in the hospital. The average number of days to schedule an appointment fell 31 percent in a rural Alaskan community when ear, nose and throat care services were provided by telemedicine.

Telemedicine may be more convenient, but is it worse care? The research indicates that on the whole it isn’t. A systematic review published in 2015 found that heart failure patients receiving telemedicine died at no higher rates than those not receiving it. Outcomes of care were the same for mental health, substance abuse and dermatology patients who used telemedicine relative to those who did not.

The review also found that telemedicine helped diabetics maintain better control of their blood sugar, and that it led to lower cholesterol and blood pressure. Other reviews came to similar conclusions.