Telehealth utilizes the efficient use of technologies which include the Internet, video conferencing, mobile phone, computer laptops and tablets with applications that can offer hospitals ways to improve their performance while providing greater accessibility and value to patients.
The Georgia Partnership for TeleHealth CEO, Paula Guy, states that “Telemedicine can lower healthcare costs by reducing avoidable hospital visits and providing regular access to care in remote parts of the states, and it’s more convenient for patients.” As baby boomer consumers age in, they are also demanding more convenient and cost-effective alternatives to the traditional visits to providers and facilities.
In October 2012, the HRRP (Hospital Readmission Reduction Program) was established by a provision in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requiring Medicare to reduce payments to hospitals that have relatively high readmission rates for patients enrolled in traditional Medicare. In an effort to deter rehospitalizations, many hospitals are benefitting by adopting telehealth technologies that not only reduce rehospitalizations for patients but make traversing the road to recovery more efficient, convenient and less costly. It is a way to supplement and improve healthcare delivery to patients who live in remote and rural areas. Upon discharge from the hospital, a physician would prescribe telehealth and refer the patient to a home care agency.
The agency then installs the appropriate Telehealth equipment and teaches the patient how to use it. The patient is then able to take some ownership in their recovery by taking their own vital signs and answering questions directly related to their diagnosis. The results are sent to a website via digital signal and the agency’s nurse is able to monitor the patient on a daily basis, allowing the nurse to inform the patient and care team, when there are problems with the patient’s recovery that may need physician intervention. The agency notifies the physician of the patient’s monitoring or the physician is able to access patient information through a secure web portal and make recommendations that can be administered at home as opposed to readmission to the hospital if issues were to go untreated.
Hospitals are beginning to use telehealth technology to improve efficiency, consolidate workflow and allow for earlier patient intervention, which translates to better outcomes benefitting both patient and provider.
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