by Marshall Busko, Senior Director, Information Technology Solutions, Amerinet
Telehealth continues to be a complex landscape in healthcare. Although technology now provides many intriguing opportunities to advance its delivery, challenges with reimbursement, regulatory compliance, and market uncertainty continue to limit its impact on the ultimate measures of success – better outcomes and lower costs.
What is telehealth? According to a definition from the American College of Nurse Practitioners, “Telehealth is the combined use of telecommunications and computer technologies to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare services by liberating caregivers from traditional constraints of place and time.”
The promise of telehealth is that it redistributes critical knowledge (without the need to live in a place) and eliminates time and space constraints. Virtual care services, primary, consultative, home and daily living are those that can now, in many cases, be handled by smaller providers.
The American healthcare system at this point in its current state is unsustainable. What is needed to really bend the cost curve and improve care is a truly connected ecosystem that will allow for cost control, improved quality, increased access and simplified compliance. Telehealth can help to achieve all of these aims.
But despite the promise of telehealth, healthcare providers need to understand that telehealth is a supplemental level of care not previously available, not a replacement. Especially in terms of the continuum of care solutions, telehealth programs require active engagement and significant patient contribution – on a daily, even hourly basis. If patients are unable or unwilling to take a proactive role in their care, the effectiveness of these solutions cannot be maximized. Similarly, care access solutions must be scalable, intuitive and easily interfaced and adapted to existing systems to bring the most value.
As with any large-scale project, the most fundamental starting point for a telehealth initiative is to obtain senior management commitment. In terms of establishing the framework or objectives of what your telehealth solution will entail, make sure they are closely aligned with overall organizational goals and objectives. Solutions should also be broken down based on areas of care. For example, these can include:
- Virtual tools for home and daily living
- Virtual primary care services
- Specialty consultation service
- Critical care services
Any successful solution will need to offer the ability to increase access, while controlling costs, enhancing quality and making compliance easier. Telehealth is a solution that, by definition, requires active engagement and significant patient contribution. But with its ability to deliver immediacy of care and minimize the constraints of location, telemedicine shows us that the future of healthcare is, partially at least, outside of the traditional brick and mortar environment.
To learn more, read the new Amerinet white paper, The Evolving Frontier of Telehealth.
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