Research, Surveys, and Telehealth News
Check out the Alliance for Connected Care studies and polling website for more resources.
American Society of Anesthesiologists: (10/5) – A study presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY 2020 annual meeting found that patients who saw a pain medicine specialist via telemedicine saved time and money and were satisfied with their experience. Researchers determined that patients who opted for virtual visits avoided a median roundtrip driving distance of 26 miles per trip, saved a median of $22 on gas and parking per visit, and saved a median of $156 over the course of a median of three visits by avoiding driving time and parking costs. In addition, of the 327 patients who completed surveys, 92% said they were satisfied with their experience.
Healthcare IT News: (10/5) – A community health center in Missouri leveraged funds from the FCC to deploy clinic-based telemedicine kiosks and home-based virtual care units during the COVID-19 pandemic. The health center has also been able to expand its medication-assisted treatment to rural areas.
Healthcare IT News: (10/6) – House Energy & Commerce Committee, Health Subcommittee Chair Eshoo (D-CA) and Rep. Kelly (D-IL) convened with Dr. Gary Puckrein, president and CEO of the National Minority Quality Forum, to stress the importance of considering the barriers to healthcare people still face throughout the country. Subcommittee Chair Eshoo noted that she's certainly recognized the importance of telehealth over the years, but that the novel coronavirus crisis has moved it "to the front burner."
Amwell Physician and Consumer Survey: (10/6) – Amwell released the results of its annual Physician and Consumer Survey. Telehealth usage is up considerably in 2020, with 22% of consumers and 80% of physicians having a virtual visit this year, up from 8% and 22%, respectively, in 2019. Further, 59% of consumers who've had a video visit had their first one during the pandemic, and 91% of patients reported being "very" or "somewhat" satisfied with the visit. Among providers, the percentage of those who have used telehealth nearly quadrupled since last year, and 84% said they were "very" or "somewhat" satisfied with one or more telehealth platforms.
mHealthIntelligence: (10/6) – A Houston-based health system is using lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic to create a primary care platform that enhances both in-person and virtual care. Rakesh Mehta, Memorial Hermann’s director of virtual health, spoke with mHealthIntelligence about the health system’s telehealth journey.
Healthcare IT News: (10/7) – Prior to COVID-19, telemedicine at Johns Hopkins Medicine represented less than 0.1% of total ambulatory care. During the peak of the pandemic, more than 50% of ambulatory care was delivered through telemedicine, reaching a peak of nearly 100,000 encounters in May 2020. In addition, Johns Hopkins expanded their home pulse-oximetry remote-monitoring capability and to-date has experienced only roughly 2 percent of the patients in the program requiring readmission.
Health Affairs: (10/8) – As part of the Higher Health Care Value Post-COVID-19 blog series, Health Affairs examined opportunities to establish a value-based ‘new normal’ for telehealth. The blog examines the policy and research agenda for value-based telehealth and notes the need for aligning stakeholders to inform a value-based approach for telehealth in the U.S.
eHealth Initiative White Paper: (10/8) – The eHealth Initiative released a white paper urging policymakers to support innovation to combat COVID-19. The paper outlines recommendations from the COVID-19 Federal Policy Work Group for building a technology-enabled health care system, and urges policymakers to support licensure portability.
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