Dr. Erkan Hassan

Monthly Writings

Evaluations and reviews of the latest in the field.

Development of a Telehealth Strategy

SUMMARY:

  • Development of a sustainable telehealth strategy should be designed to serve a long-term purpose.

  • The traditional episodic sick care model is not designed to meaningfully address long-term patient care needs, especially virtually.

  • Digitalization of the care model must synchronize the full continuum of patient needs throughout their health care journey.

  • One size will not fit all.

BACKGROUND:

  • The use of telehealth is here to stay with a goal of improved broader care delivery at a lower cost.

  • Development of such a strategy is hindered by the following “Known Unknowns”:

    • Government regulations

    • Payment considerations

    • Patient and provider acceptance

  • Common questions regarding the use of technology to deliver patient care is the easy part.

  • What is difficult is the development and implementation of a Tele-Driven Health Strategy in order to:

    • Deliver improved care

    • Increase access to care

    • Reduce healthcare spending

REVIEW

  • Telehealth has emerged as an invaluable tool with benefits of improving patient outcomes and optimizing limited healthcare resources.

  • However, several challenges still remain and must be taken into consideration in order to optimize your telehealth strategy.

In-Person vs Telemedicine Comparison

Telehealth Benefits & Challenges

Telehealth Strategy Considerations:

  • Continuous comprehensive monitoring of physiologic parameters (biomarkers, physical activity, etc)

  • Cloud based real time patient data analytics & predictive modeling

  • Facilitate earlier detection of disease exacerbation

  • Timely optimized personalized interventions tailored to individual patient needs

  • Remote monitoring enhancing patient engagement

  • Decision support tools

  • Collaboration among stakeholders

 

Address Morbidity and Mortality from Chronic Diseases:

  • Chronic diseases are the leading cause of death and disability in the U.S.

  • The current approach of intermittent/episodic care (every 3-6 months) is inefficient.

  • Virtual visits should be a supplement and not a replacement to face to face visits.

 

Focus on Disparities in Health Care:

  • Provide services to underserved areas and populations.

  • This is not limited to rural geographic areas.

  • Urban areas with limited bus transportation or lack of reliable child care are also problem areas

  • A greater need exists for primary care providers in non-rural areas.

 

Improve Specialty Care via Telemedicine:

  • Results in quicker, more effective care

  • Can solve the initial problem in approximately 40% of the cases

  • Can quicken face to face appointment scheduling

  • Fewer missed workdays by patients

CONCLUSIONS:

Effective integration of telemedicine can:

  • Link the entire team together in a coordinated fashion

  • Provide integration of data into the electronic health record

  • Communicate across disciplines

  • Provide a profitable value based approach.

Erkan Hassan