As healthcare and its use of telehealth products and services continues to change and evolve fast and furiously, it can be difficult to stay on top of it all. We’ll update you monthly with a roundup of today’s important healthcare topics and trends in telehealth.
Congress Expands Telehealth Veterans’ Access for Mental Health Care
mHealth Intelligence
Mental health issues in veterans often go unnoticed – more than 20 veteran lives are lost daily as a result. Veterans will soon have more opportunities to use telehealth to access mental health services, following Congressional passage of a bill targeting the high suicide rate among service members. The bill authorizes the Department of Veteran Affairs to award grants for the development of telehealth programs for veterans, as well as reduce the barriers to access for veterans that are trying to use the programs. Read more here.
Is Telemedicine Over- or Under-Hyped?
Becker’s Hospital Review
A panel of health system IT experts, gathered by the Cleveland Clinic, weighed in with their responses, in an article published recently in Becker’s Hospital Review. Digital care is seen as the next frontier in medicine, and as telemedicine scales at an unprecedent rate due to the coronavirus pandemic, more attention must go toward how it impacts older models of healthcare. Read more here.
What are the 10 Factors in Patience Satisfaction with Telehealth
mHealth Intelligence
J.D. Power’s 2020 Telehealth Satisfaction Study identifies 10 key performance indicators that providers should use to ensure patient satisfaction. As a whole, the list puts outcomes as being more important than convenience or ease of use – stressing the importance of thoughtful and effective virtual care. Patients also desire a quality experience; they want to be comfortable using a virtual platform, feel listened to and think of it as easy to use. Read more here.
Using Telehealth to Make Patient Rounding More Efficient and Effective
mHealth Intelligence
Sri Bharadwaj of Franciscan Health explains how the Indiana health system uses telehealth to improve patient care and care team collaboration, “So, we found out that the way to actually accelerate care and improve care is to share the data simultaneous with several specialists (at) the same time,” he said. A connected care platform is key to providing all-round care for patients, despite the challenges that virtual care may present in coordinating care. Read more here.
Virtual Care After Surgery May be More Convenient for Patients
United Press International
Virtual follow-up care for surgical patients provides as much face time with doctors as in-person care, according to a new study. However, this isn’t a bad thing; total clinic time was 19 minutes virtually compared to 58 minutes in-person. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, many surgical patients are being offered virtual follow-up appointments instead of in-person visits, the researchers noted. Read more here.
For more information on the latest trends in telehealth, check out our resources and blog.