STRATOSPHERIC RISE OF TELEHEALTH IN THE AGE OF COVID

Telehealth (telemedicine, mobile health) has taken off since the outbreak began back in March. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “In April, nearly half (43.5%) of Medicare primary care visits were provided through telehealth compared with less than one percent (0.1%) in February before the PHE.” The department also reported that, “Internal CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) analysis has found that before the PHE, only 14,000 beneficiaries received a telehealth service in a week, but during the PHE period from mid-March through early-July, over 10.1 million beneficiaries have received a telehealth service.”

What’s more, statistics show that telehealth isn’t going anywhere once COVID is under control. 

New research by Doctor.com “...shows that virtual care will outlast the pandemic itself. Doctor.com surveyed more than 1,800 patients and found that “83% of patients are likely to use telemedicine after COVID-19. 74% stated they would use telemedicine to see a doctor with whom they already have a relationship; and 55% would use it to see a new doctor.”

The truth is, Telehealth is now empowering virtually every facet of healthcare. “Recent policy changes during the COVID-19 pandemic have reduced barriers to telehealth access and have promoted the use of telehealth as a way to deliver acute, chronic, primary and specialty care (American Hospital Association).”

TELEHEALTH AND ACUTE CARE

Telehealth technology is literally transforming healthcare communications as we know it by enabling providers to overcome many of the challenges they faced every day.

“The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) defines telehealth as “the use of telecommunications technologies to deliver health-related services and information that support patient care, administrative activities, and health education”.

Many emergency services teams (medics, EDs, etc.) across the U.S. have been using telehealth tools for several years to streamline acute care coordination in order to reduce treatment times, facilitate faster/smoother patient handoffs, centralize patient data and improve outcomes. With a mobile app, care teams can conduct live audio/video calls as well as share audio clips, text messages, photos, ECG transmissions, patient data and more.

Medical professionals today leverage Telehealth throughout every stage of the patient journey - pre-arrival, triage, repeat visits, communication with the family, and discharge/follow-up. It allows them to  streamline communication, enhance care and drive better outcomes. 

Telehealth provides non-linear information and communication exchange between care team members to:

• Facilitate smoother consults and transfers by instantly sharing all patient data and associated communications (including audio, video, messaging and data) with the new hospital
• Connect team members quickly and easily at the touch of a button without having to search for contact information
• Simplify and streamline workflows during pre-hospital, intrahospital and inter-hospital care
• Alert the whole care team instantly, with a touch of the button, of a new patient or treatment
• Expand inter-organizational care teams in a non-linear fashion as the case evolves, enabling new resources, organizations, teams and individuals to be added when needed at any point in time
• Share audio, video, instant messaging, data, images and key benchmarks in real time, throughout the case

TELEHEALTH AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

Right now, the emergency management community is leveraging Telehealth to minimize exposure, reduce PPE use and bolster communications across a region. This is greatly reducing treatment times and optimizing resource utilization, especially during patient surges. Telehealth tools are facilitating movement and load-balancing of patients, staff and supplies between healthcare facilities, across regions and entire states.

“Telehealth services help provide necessary care to patients while minimizing the transmission risk of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, to healthcare personnel (HCP) and patients (cdc.gov).”

In a very real way, Telehealth is also bridging the geographic gap between the infected and those they need to interact with most. Doctors and nurses can enable COVID-infected patients to interact with loved-ones via their hospital bed through live video chat. These individuals can also securely communicate with their power of attorney or offsite clinician if necessary. 

TELEHEALTH AND THE PUBLIC

Telehealth has fundamentally changed how we interact with our primary care physicians and mental health specialists. When we have a lingering cough or our child has a fever, for instance, we no longer need to leave our homes. It’s as simple as picking up a smartphone or tablet, opening a secure app and initiating a video chat. The same goes for feelings of severe depression or other mental health concerns. Interacting live with a psychiatrist, for example, is just as easy. And many of us are now willing to have initial consultations with new medical professionals, not only our regular doctors. 

What’s even better is that these telehealth consultations are now being covered by insurance, including Medicare. In the early stages of the pandemic, “Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) were able to use waiver authority under section 1135 of the Social Security Act to lift geographic and site of service restrictions to allow telehealth services to be delivered wherever a beneficiary is located, including their home or temporary health care sites (hhs.gov).” 

This fundamental change in medical billing is driving Telehealth to even greater heights, commensurate with COVID-driven growth. 

Another derivative benefit of Telehealth is its ability to save time. In fact, “(Telehealth) saves patients over 100 minutes of their time compared to an in-person visit (Forbes).” When asked what would encourage them to book a Telehealth appointment, patients in the same Forbes study cited online scheduling capabilities (47%) and immediate appointment availability (47%).

“Instead of wasting half of a day traveling to an appointment and waiting to be seen by a physician, a patient just needs to hop on (a video chat with a doctor) for 10 minutes before deciding on next steps or if a more extensive in-person appointment is warranted (medicaleconomics.com).”

CONCLUSION

The true power of Telehealth is its ability to take distance completely out of the healthcare interaction equation. It enables medical professionals to save time and resources, allows individuals to receive care from home, and during this once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, it’s enabling the sick to be cared for in the most efficient ways possible.

The future is bright for the use of Telehealth in American medicine. I’m excited to see the continued adoption of this life-saving technology and how it continues to reshape healthcare in this country, and beyond.