The Future of Telehealth: Reinventing the Model of Care
The pandemic is creating a reliance and awakening of the full potential of virtual care, opening a door to truly reinvent the model of care moving forward. The key is using digital heath tools to help care professionals reach, engage and build…
The Future of Telehealth: Reinventing the Model of Care
The pandemic is creating a reliance and awakening of the full potential of virtual care, opening a door to truly reinvent the model of care moving forward. The key is using digital heath tools to help care professionals reach, engage and build trust with patients in ways that cannot be accomplished with infrequent visits to a doctor’s office. Health care professionals have the opportunity to leverage these tools, along with in-clinic services, to maximize the patient experience, increase quality, drive affordability, minimize health inequities and optimize clinic space utilization. These three areas are crucial to the future of telehealth:
Experience: Telehealth technology must be safe, affordable and accessible to ALL patients with various health issues, ranging from routine care and urgent health concerns to ongoing chronic condition management and specialty services. The potential benefits are much broader than improved convenience and access. Virtual care minimizes geographic disparities seen by the 60 million Americans living in rural areas, reduces transportation challenges that are cited as the third most common barrier to care, and can remove a hurdle that makes accessing care difficult for the 40% of Americans who have at least one disability. A digitally-enabled system can minimize these inequities by delivering the right care – at the right time – in the best location and ultimately create a better patient experience.
Intelligence: It’s imperative we connect patients to their respective health care providers virtually, and equip care teams with smart technology that anticipates patient needs and caters to patient preferences. Health professionals may want to take the CORE Telehealth Certificate program to ensure they are equipped with the knowledge they need to provide safe and high-quality care through telehealth.
Impact: Virtual care tools are becoming increasingly important to close care gaps and improve Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) scores. By improving patient access to virtual care, and through other digital tools like remote monitoring, it may improve health outcomes, better identify and manage chronic conditions, improve satisfaction, enhance connections and relationships and curb costs – all important outcomes in any value-based care program.
In every other aspect of our life, technology makes our lives easier. Now, we must leverage these tools in order to expand access to care, ultimately increasing the quality of care we provide, minimizing health inequities and maximizing the patient experience.
https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2017/08/rural-america.html
https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2014/cb14-218.html
https://www.americanboardoftelehealth.org/abt/education-resources/core-concepts-in-telehealth-certificate-program/
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