Telehealth News and Market Developments
MedCity News: Driving for Results: 3 Key Benefits of Telehealth (8/3) - Telehealth enables the delivery of health care services and medical information through digital communication technologies. It encompasses multiple remote options, which can include, virtual outpatient visits for both acute and chronic conditions, consultations, and remote patient monitoring. Some advantages of telehealth includes its ability to empower patients and providers by optimizing clinical and administrative efficiencies saving both time and money.
Skilled Nursing News: How Telemedicine Drastically Reduces SNF Transfers to Hospitals (8/1) - Silvercrest Center partnered with Sound Physicians in a 14-month pilot program from July 2021 to August 2022, with a goal of reducing its hospital transfers by providing direct access to virtual physicians during off hours via telemedicine. The video planform during a virtual encounter allowed for a thorough clinical exchange between patient, physician and nursing. The program found that both long-stay and short-stay hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) transfers all declined significantly. Silvercrest Center continues to be hopeful on the role of telemedicine in the health care sector.
Medical Economics: How Can Telehealth Benefit Small Private Practices? (7/27) - Many large medical practices and hospitals have embraced telehealth due to its convenience, accessibility, and ability to reduce the spread of infectious diseases. But telehealth is not just for large practices and hospitals — small practices can benefit from it, too. With a clear understanding of these technologies and all that they offer, small practices can use them to become more productive and efficient than ever before. Telehealth can help small practices overcome staff shortages, support the delivery of personalized care, streamline operations, among others.
Becker's Hospital Review: Where Telehealth Stands After COVID-19 (7/26) - Despite the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency, telehealth is still a widely used option than before the pandemic. The convenience of receiving care from one's home is still driving many patients to seek out telehealth options. However, for telehealth to stick around permanently, lawmakers need to hammer out regulations and rules for virtual care. Some hospital leaders are looking to Washington, D.C., to provide guidance on how telehealth care can be delivered as the country moves out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
STAT News: The American Medical Association's (AMA) New President on the Future of Telehealth (7/25) - Dr. Jesse Ehrenfeld, inaugurated in June, is the current president of the AMA. Dr. Ehrenfeld is the first board-certified clinical informaticist to be in AMA's leadership, bringing a set of skills that could be particularly useful as medicine reacts to the rapid evaluation of technology. STAT spoke to Ehrenfeld about three major areas of health technology, telehealth, electronic health records, and artificial intelligence, and the potential and progress yet to be made in each of them.
Health Leaders: I/DD Care Provider Uses Telehealth to Save $100K in Emergency Room (ER) Costs Over Two Years (7/25) - Mainstay Life Services, which offers support for people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities in Pennsylvania, reduced ER and urgent care clinic visits and improved clinical outcomes through virtual care. The provider reportedly saved almost $100,000 in emergency care costs over the past two years through telehealth. Through the program, 92 percent of those telehealth visits were resolved without need for further medical care, including 27 percent that would have resulted in a trip to the ER or an urgent care clinic.
American Parkinson Disease Association: The Expanding Role of Technology Within Health Care for Parkinson's Disease (7/25) - There are many opportunities to advance clinical care, participate in clinical trials, and seek out Parkinson’s disease (PD) wellness opportunities. Many people with PD live in areas with few or no movement disorders specialists, or even neurologists, as a result they either see no specialist or must drive hours to receive specialized care. Telemedicine allows these individuals to get access to expert PD doctors from afar. Additionally, as PD progresses, people may have more severe issues with cognition and movement or have a care partner who is older and has difficulty with mobility or driving. Telemedicine allows access to health care without any of the hurdles of transportation to the facility.
PR Newswire: Telemedicine Provider HealthTap Launches Campaign to Increase Access to Health Care for Hospitality Workers (7/24) - HealthTap, a virtual primary care provider, announced a program to increase access to health care for restaurant and bar workers across the country. The "Here's To Your Health" program offers restaurant and bar workers access to one free virtual doctor visit and a year of unlimited texting with a doctor they choose, as well as discounted prescriptions, among others. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, 70% of hospitality workers, including cooks, food and cocktail servers, bartenders, bussers, hosts, and dishwashers, do not receive employer-provided health benefits. The program aims to raise awareness of the need for affordable, accessible health care in the hospitality industry.
Health Leaders: Digital Health Helps Carilion Children's Monitor NICU Feeding Processes (7/21) - Carilion Children's Hospital announced a partnership with Astarte Medical, which would enable NICU staff to access the latter's analytics platform. The platform, NICUtrition, would analyze patient feeding practices and outcomes to identify feeding protocol effectiveness, patient risk factors, and best practices that can positively impact patient outcomes. Digital health tools that can be accessed through the EHR can help with that data gathering and analysis, offering crucial clinical decision support when and where needed.
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