The COVID-19 pandemic brought telehealth services to the forefront of medical care, with many providers offering patients the option of remote visits for the first time. And while many of us are now familiar with – or have even experienced – a telemedicine appointment, there are a host of factors to consider when planning for long-term, distant care provision.
From learning new terms to managing integration issues; understanding the different demands of acute versus chronic care needs; and considering both consumer- and provider-based platforms, there’s quite a lot to know about successful implementation and execution of telehealth services.
Our eBook, Optimizing the use of telehealth through effective data integration and management, takes a look at some of the important considerations to keep in mind when moving forward with these platforms to ensure telehealth services work for both patients and providers alike.
Ready to up your telehealth knowledge? Keep reading below for an excerpt, and then download the eBook today.
Integration issues
Some modes of telehealth – such as fully-integrated telemedicine platforms – allow for easy, direct access to the entire patient record. Other modes, such as many D2C platforms, do not provide any access at all. However, many telehealth applications split the difference and are partially integrated into the patient record. This means they provide access to some types of information, like structured data elements, but not others, like clinical notes.
Without access to the full patient health record, care decisions made via telehealth appointments may not be informed by critical information in the patient’s health history. A lack of access to information can also lead to duplicative and unnecessary diagnostic tests and fragment care continuity. Challenges with partial integration include ensuring that relevant patient health history informs the telehealth interaction and that information generated in the telehealth interaction is included in the patient health record in the EHR.
