Telemedicine Can Save Underserved Patients Time And Money Essay

Telemedicine is relatively new to the healthcare industry and it has come about by providers taking advantage of the technology available to them today and the advancements of what we have at our fingertips. The use of Telemedicine generally means an inpatient in a hospital will receive a quicker evaluation and treatment for a stroke, or a patient at home with a fever and apparent strep throat will not have to come in to a clinic to be seen in person. It is no secret that American’s are busier now than they have ever been and with the use of Telemedicine patients are able to get quicker care by a professional. Throughout this paper we will look at many facets of Telemedicine from an inpatient in a hospital to a busy mom with a nagging sinus infection who both need

Telehealth can help reduce high cost hospital visits such as stroke cases, neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) cases and other emergencies. There have been recent initiatives that collected data to see if telehealth was a cost effective option for healthcare. One initiative, Baby CareLink, places telehealth units in homes of low-birth weight neonates.12 For this initiative, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston installs the telehealth units in the neonates home for $2,000, and that units replaces a NICU stay of $5,000 per day.12 If a neonate was to stay in the NICU for 7 days, that would be a $35,000 expense that the $2,000 telehealth unit replaces. 12 Different disease states and emergency states will have different cost factors depending on the amount of medical care. However, the amount that a family can save on their newborn by investing in telehealth is quite significant. In a study from the Milwaukee and Iron Mountain Veterans Affairs Medical Centers (VAMC) telepulmonary program, telehealth was found to be more cost effective compared to routine care. This study was conducted over a year and telehealth had costs of $335 per patient per year compared to routine care, which was $585 per patient per year, and onsite care was also compared at $1,166 per patient per year.13 A sensitivity analysis was performed on these values, and it did show that the cost-effectiveness telehealth was dependent on successful telehealth consultation, equipment cost, and

The home videoconference machine commonly used in the VA in 2007 was the American TeleCare LifeView machine (Eden Prairie, MN). Its cost of $11,325 came from a national contract with the VA and hence has no variation. We assumed that it lasts three years. Telephone calls and the LifeView station both use telephone land lines. Based on actual experience, we expected that 52% of individuals eligible for telehealth would have standard (land-line) telephones. No cost was assigned for them because this program does not purchase or repair telephones, and their use would not noticeably shorten their lifetimes. We assumed that the VA clinicians initiated all calls in order to eliminate any cost to the patient. Based on our assumption that transmission costs were part of the fixed overhead assigned to encounters in the SCI clinic, we did not account for their costs separately.

Florida VA hospitals are among the busiest in the nation. Access can be an issue for non-emergency care, and in some cases, these delays have reportedly resulted in harm to patients. In 2012, West Palm Beach VA Medical Center served 64,358 veterans since they have opened the medical center in 1995 in which it was projected to serve 30,000. Outpatient visits totaled a record of 689,662 and 7,417 inpatient discharges. Since WPB VAMC opening, it has had a 66 percent increase in staffing to help meet the needs of Veterans. During my time at the West Palm Beach VA Medical Center, I have spent seven months assisting in the director’s office as a program support. I helped with patient advocacy issues on as a needed basis and also helped with pulling data collection, tracking, analysis and reporting. In fiscal year 2013, there was an 11% increase in the number of Veterans served by Telehealth. VA Telehealth services use health informatics, disease management and telehealth technologies to target care and case management to improve access to care with the intent to providing the right care in the right place at the right time. Further, as the numbers of veterans served by Telehealth grown so did the amount of complaints to access or timeliness in which there was a 12% increase. For example, in medical administrative services, phone calls were not returned or letters were not

The future faces a number of related goal-driven challenges. The CCHT has cited reduced health care resource use among the targeted high-utilization patients. This impact provides strong economic justification for home telehealth to be an integral component of regular care services for chronically ill veterans at risk for long-term care. Because of the lower marginal cost of adding services to the existing infra¬structure, the VHA is intent on expanding its CCHT program to provide chronic care management, acute care management, and health promotion and disease management for other patients in areas such as weight management, dementia care, and palliative care. They were awarded six national contracts for home telehealth devices and services worth $1.38 bil¬lion over five years. This is particularly challenging as the VHA uses a primary care model that adheres to clinical guide¬lines and sharing of information among

Increasing access to quality health care services is a problem that can be tackled with emerging technology, such as Telehealth. Telehealth is becoming universally essential for efficient, cost-effective delivery of health care across a variety of settings (Bashshur & Shannon, 2010). Telehealth is proving to be an effective tool in combatting the problem of provider shortages as evidenced by rural hospitals starting to provide electronic consultations with specialists all over the country (Betbeze, 2017). Although telehealth technologies were originally aimed at improving access to health care for geographically remote patients, the areas of care being used by telehealth has extended its use well beyond those who are geographically isolated

The solution to the problem of decreased health care access is to increase the usage of telehealth/telemedicine. The U.S. of Veterans Affairs (n.d.) defines telehealth/telemedicine as “the utilization of health informatics along with disease specific management via technologies to provide care, increase access, enhance case management, and improve continuity of care to better the overall health of the Veteran population”. In most instances telehealth/telemedicine provides an alternative location for delivery of healthcare services, thereby making it more convenient. Telehealth/telemedicine is a very robust service nationally within the Veterans Administration (VA) Healthcare

Telemedicine services often result in the creation of health information in formats that historically have not been part of the patient’s medical record such as audio recordings, videos and other forms of remote monitoring data (Erbetta, 1999).  While hospitals and other providers have some flexibility in determining the information that comprises the medical record, there are circumstances where an organization may want or the law may require that such information to be included in the record.  For example, it may be necessary to include such information in the medical record in order to comply with state medical record laws or for risk-management purposes (McCrossin, 2003).

My thoughts about the new and innovative way of caring for patients by receiving telemedicine is that it’s a good idea. I read the article that mentioned that telemedicine is a good way to keep the health expenditure down. I also found it interesting about the first use of telemedicine in the 1960’s. According to Eastwood, a microwave line was to connect General Hospital with Logan International Airport, so patients could be examined. I believe that truly support the point that telemedicine is a cable and useful way to connect with the patients that don’t have the transportation options to go to a health care center to visit with a doctor. There would be no issue about if the hospital rooms are unavailable. As Eastwood also mentioned in the

One key argument that Cason makes is the transition away from a fee for service model, to a more patient centered model of healthcare. The Triple Aim sums up the patient centered model of care well. Further, Cason provides examples of how telemedicine is highlighted throughout the Affordable Care Act legislation as a viable means toward improving access to care, along with being a cost effective way to involve patients in their care. Lastly, there are numerous quality examples from the VA on the success of telemedicine. Other studies to date have not shown the cost savings that telemedicine has promised. However, one thing that has been repeated time and time again is increased patient satisfaction, and patient engagement in their care. Cason shows this to be true again in this article. The viability of telemedicine as a collaborative tool, used for engaging patients who lack access to care, along with those who are not engaged in disease management appears to be sound. Cason strengthens this argument, and helps strengthen the research question for this capstone

In any healthcare setting, care is provided through Interdisciplinary care teams, which has not been without its concerns in terms of tele-homecare. Health care professionals involved in tele-homecare delivery were problematic at times, because clinical roles and responsibilities as well as responses to abnormal tele-homecare data and expectations about patient outcomes were not delineated. Collaborations between nurses and physicians within telemedicine programs however were reportedly collaborative and trustworthy. A common frustration for providers within the context of interdisciplinary care, is the inoperability of different telemedicine agencies operating systems to communicate data and information between each other, especially when

When using Telemedicine humans can accomplish many great things and can benefit everyone. The potential this innovation has could be really great if they succeed on making it right. If this Innovation worked many lives will be saved across the world. As well as lives we might be able to learn new things from this and find more cures. According to professionals at the medical field telemedicine has been approving for the past couple years and as potential to keep going. Not only is this innovation good at saving lives it is also helping the economy by getting rid of competition. Even though some people see competition in the economy a good thing but it also has its downs that can really help some

Often the biggest barriers to accessing healthcare are cost and location. Lower income individuals just do not have the resources to have optimal healthcare, or cannot take the time away from employment to deal with health issues. One potential solution to help with these problems could be “telehealth.” Telehealth allows a lower level healthcare practitioner to communicate with a physician or specialists when necessary. Remote rural areas use a Physician Assistant or a Nurse Practitioner on location in remote areas.

The early years of telemedicine in the U.S. were trying to figure out a way to make telemedicine work. The cost of the treatment wasn’t a factor in the beginning. Eventually, the cost of equipment became a problem. “Telemedicine has been too focused on proving that the technology works, rather than on cost-benefit ratios” (Jacobus, 2004, p. 56). Telemedicine is used mostly to treat chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancers, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (Kamei, 2013, p 154). These chronic diseases are responsible for about 63% of deaths worldwide (Kamei, 2013, p. 154). Telemedicine allows patients to stay in the comforts of his/her own home to be treated by a telehealth professional. When

There is an increasing need within the U.S. for quality health care to be provided to individuals who have limited access whether it is due to a rural environment, disabilities, or in the field of battle. Telemedicine is literally medicine provided at a distance. Telehealth is able to alleviate some of the effects of a growing shortage of professionals such as primary care physicians. In this type of health care delivery, the dynamics between the patient and the entire health care system changes. Telemedicine meets the increasing demands of patients to have greater access, or responsiveness, from a health care provider. It also meets the needs of the provider who is very interested in time-saving, safety-enhancing assistance in their daily practice. Employers and health plans are also very interested in telemedicine as a means of improving compliance with treatment plans and care management initiatives (Hodgkins, 2008). The use of email also allows the patient to have increased access to their health care providers. Instead of calling their health care provider’s office, patients are now able to email their non-emergent health care questions to their provider. Conversely, health care providers are able to email patients reminders for appointments or wellness tips.