Telehealth Research, Reports and Surveys
mHealth Intelligence: Telehealth Raises Visit Completion Rate by 20 Percent for Rural Residents (6/2) – A study
published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine found that telemedicine is an effective alternative to in-person care for rural residents, helping to drive up appointment completion rates. Researchers conducted a retrospective cohort study, using the data to determine any correlation between the rate of visit completion and the setting in which a visit occurred. The study suggests that telemedicine may facilitate access to care for difficult-to-reach patients, such as those in rural areas, as well as those who have rigid work schedules, live longer distances from the clinic, have complex health problems, and are from areas of higher poverty and/or lower education.
Science Daily: Study Evaluates How to Eliminate Telemedicine's Virtual Waiting Room (6/1) – A study published in Quality Management in Health Care found that text messaging provides a way to connect patients and doctors without relying on the virtual waiting room. Twenty-two patients at a stroke clinic participated in the two-and-a-half-month study. Patients chose to either receive a text, which included a visit link when their provider was ready for their visit or the standard telehealth routine of logging in at a scheduled time and waiting in front of a camera in a virtual waiting room. Results showed that zero patients were seen late, while fifty-five percent of the patients were seen early. On average, there was a 55-minute time savings in clinic operations due to patients being seen early.
United Press International: Telehealth Exams are Recommended for Older Adults with Blood Cancers (5/31) – A study
assessing telehealth-based exams found telehealth to be a good substitute for frailty assessments, which are recommended for seniors undergoing systemic therapy, such as chemotherapy. The study included 185 blood cancer patients aged 73 and older between November 2020 and March 2022 who had virtual assessments. About 81 percent of the participants who did the virtual testing completed the test successfully and had no falls or safety events during the study time. The study provides implications of expanding access to technology, particularly monitoring devices, so that more patients can take advantage of telehealth resources.
UT Southwestern Medical Center: Telemedicine, Continuous Glucose Monitoring Mitigated Effects of Pandemic on Children with Diabetes (5/31) – A recent study published in BMC Pediatrics found the rapid adoption of telemedicine and increased use of continuous glucose monitoring helped to attenuate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on children with Type 1 diabetes. The study analyzed patient characteristics including insurance status, race, ethnicity, gender, glucose control, office visits, and hospitalizations, and compared the use of continuous glucose monitoring in the year prior to the start of the pandemic to the first year of the pandemic. The study found that increased use of continue glucose monitoring along with telemedicine prevented worse outcomes in this patient population.
mHealthIntelligence: Initiating Telehealth Visits Through Text Messaging Benefits Patients - Researchers from the University of California Dan Diego found that connecting with a patient through text messaging to let them know when their provider was ready to see them provided patients with scheduling flexibility. Successes included patient flexibility and time savings for patients and providers. Expansion to other clinic settings is underway with a mantra of “UCSD Tele-Untethered: Your provider can see you now.”
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