At the time she was interviewed, more than 100 people were waiting to schedule an appointment with Wright, who tries to help patients more quickly by encouraging them to monitor their own blood pressure with devices purchased at pharmacies or online, asking them to send her electrocardiograms from their smartwatches, and recommending apps for specific types of patients (such as those suffering from migraine headaches). She then reviews data her patients send her, which speeds up diagnosis times and referrals to specialists.

Other physicians claim the pandemic has trained people to fend for themselves by scrambling to schedule vaccine appointments and find COVID-19 testing facilities. "Health care is complex," said Shantanu Nundy, chief medical officer of digital healthcare firm Accolade Inc. "But so is buying a car or a computer. Patients are smart." (Accolade owns PlushCare, a virtual primary- and mental health care provider.)

However, DIY care — even doctor-assisted DIY care — is not always the answer, some physicians warn. Natasha Bhuyan, a family physician and West Coast regional medical director for One Medical, a provider of digital and in-person primary care, told The Journal about a new patient she met a few years ago. He had "a sore throat that wouldn't go away after consultation with a virtual doctor and antibiotics from an urgent-care clinic," the paper noted. "It turned out that he had HIV, which [Bhuyan] ordered testing for after taking his personal history."