Telehealth

Dr. Joe Kvedar, president-elect of the American Telemedicine Association, says providers have to figure out how to optimize the combination of virtual care and in-office visits.

Virtual care is helping to monitor high-risk patients with diabetes and avoid adverse outcomes, explains Dr. Jonathan Bloom, CEO of Podimetrics.

Over a six-week period in April and May this year, Bendigo Health in regional Victoria conducted roughly 2700 telehealth outpatient appointments across the Loddon Mallee region. Compared to a year prior to the six-week period, only 187 telehealth appointments were conducted. The departments that contributed to this huge increase include Oncology (1010 appointments), Child and Acute Mental Health Services (352 appointments), Outpatient Rehabilitation (220 appointments), Speech Pathology (103 appointments) and Midwife Services (78 appointments). As such, Bendigo Health plans to re-evaluate the role of telehealth in its model of care after a huge uptake in the service during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also recently surveyed the telehealth experience of 41 oncology patients and 76% indicated they would like telehealth to be an ongoing option for certain appointments. THE LARGER TREND Given the surge in the popularity of telehealth in handling the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare providers are considering to integrate more of these services in the near future. For example at Singapore’s Tan Tock Seng Hospital, video-consultation sessions starting with the hospital’s psychiatry unit have been implemented to ensure that patients get their care remotely, Healthcare IT News reported. Bendigo Health also rolled out a cloud-based remote monitoring system for suspected COVID-19 patients, which supplies doctors and nurses with a dashboard of daily updated symptoms and health vitals to remotely stay on top of their patients’ health. ON THE RECORD “In the future we do believe there’s a number of appointments that can and should be done virtually for patient conveniences and the efficiency of our service,” said Peter Faulkner, Chief Executive of Bendigo Health.  

Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Illinois, said she introduced the legislation in hopes of gathering data to support post-pandemic continuation of relaxed CMS rules around telemedicine.

With dozens of healthcare facilities across the UAE, the country’s healthcare system is evolving faster than elsewhere in the world, says Christian Schuhmacher, CEO of King’s College Hospital London in Dubai.

  Although telemedicine can be a way to fill gaps in access to healthcare providers, policymakers should ensure vulnerable people aren't left behind, says a new UCLA report.  

The telemedicine vendor doesn't store patient data, explained founder Brandon Welch, and relies on peer-to-peer video-calling software working inside browsers to minimize potential vulnerabilities.

There are shifting expectations for connected health products, says Vivify Health CEO Eric Rock.

Report predicts shift away from wearables to video analytics and mobile platforms. 

“There is a lot of discussion within the government to allow telehealth services in South Korea. It is one of the ‘new normal’ after COVID-19,” said Dr Hwang Hee, CIO, SNUBH.