Telemedicine Cost

The purpose of this paper is to discuss how technology has impacted the health care delivery system. Health care technology is advancing at an increasingly rapid rate in the United States, and globally. Patients and providers are witnessing these changes through the use of telehealth, and telemedicine applications. Telehealth, and telemedicine are often used interchangeably, however there is a difference between the two applications. Telehealth is the use of technology to deliver health care, health information, or health education at a distance (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.).

When patients leave from appointments with their physicians, or are discharged from the hospital, they are responsible for their care at home. Oftentimes, patients are non-compliant with their treatment plan given to them by their clinician due to lack of understanding, miscommunication or faulty understanding of the treatment plan, lack of access to facilities or requirement of additional guidance. This creates safety issues and causes negative outcomes in the patients’ health. This is where telehealth comes into play to help to continuously monitor patients and provide the assistance needed to maintain optimal patient function. According Cassandra, Graves, and Mooney (2013) telehealth would certainly reduce readmission rates for chronic conditions by giving patients early interventions, serve wider geographic areas, improve patient outcome, provide better services to patients and allow better time management for

Despite the advantages of Telehealth, lack of reimbursement continues to be a serious concern towards widespread adoption. As new private companies are adopting telehealth facility, there is a great difficulty in reimbursement through Medicare (Winckler, 2016). The main challenge is developing a supportable model under Medicare that meets the need of government, service providers, doctors and

Telehealth service is becoming increasingly used especially in rural communities where it is difficult to get health care providers to go to such communities to provide health care services; often, in such communities, you have just one or two primary care providers for a large population of people. States are now more than ever recognizing the benefits of treating disease in a timely manner to prevent worsening and potential hospitalization which is hard to do in some rural Counties. According to The National conference of State legislatures, 43 states and the District of Columbia now provide some form of Medicaid reimbursement for telehealth services and 19 states and the District of Columbia now require private insurance plans in the state

The delivery of health care has always been influenced by technological developments and innovations. This is particularly true in modern health care professionals where they are obsessed with technology and rush to apply them. One of the most recent applications of ICT – Information and computer technology- is telehealth. Telehealth is the use of communication, diagnostic and information technology to provide health care when patients and providers are geographically separated [2], Technologies include videoconferencing, the internet, store -and-forward imaging, streaming media, terrestrial and wireless communications. Telehealth could be as simple as two health professionals discussing a case over the telephone or as

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that utility of telehealth technology (THT) has the ability to improve patients’ health and reduce costly hospital readmissions for those living with chronic diseases in the United States (US). Nationally, most of our healthcare expenditures are allocated to caring for patients with chronic conditions. Bunnell et al. (2012) suggested that it cost the US more than 2.5 trillion dollars to manage and treat chronic disorders. Because of less than optimal management of chronic diseases in the outpatient setting, these patients are frequently readmitted to the hospital.

The purpose of telemedicine is to remove distance as a barrier to health care. While telehealth is an accepted resource to bridge the gap between local and global health care, integrating telehealth into existing health infrastructures presents a challenge for both governments and policy makers (HRSA, 2011). Today there are policy barriers that prevent the expansion of telehealth, including reimbursement issues raised by Medicare and private payers, state licensure, and liability and privacy concerns.

Telehealth has been a large topic of debate in recent years because of the economic, political, and regulatory points of view. In deciding outcomes in these areas, it is the responsibility of all healthcare professions to identify information gaps in order to come to the more rational and beneficial conclusion about telehealth (Grace, 2014). Economically, there are concerns regarding the access and affordability of telehealth equipment. At the same time, telehealth is being adapted in ways to be utilized with technological devices that many individuals already have access to like telephones, cellular phones, and personal computers/laptops. Telehealth can positively impact both clients and providers by increasing access to care and reducing the time and costs associated with traveling for health care (Allen, Aylott, Loyola, Moric, & Saffarek, 2015). As telehealth develops technological devices can be made more affordable and can be covered by insurance policies (Thomas et al., 2014). Many nurses functioning as case managers can help provide the tools and resources individuals require to manage their health.

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 that is chosen is telehealth; types of technology that will be used will need to be considered. The forms of technology that will be used with the telehealth program are video conferencing, digital scales, a remote monitoring devices like a biosensor, blood pressure monitors, automated medication dispensers, and a smart phone (Nelson & Stagger, 2014). An important aspect to remember is how these forms of technology can be used to help increase access to care. These types of technology can prevent un-needed trips to the doctor or ED, as well as increasing access to the provider.

Telehealth is the monitoring via remote exchange of physiological data between a patient at home and health care professionals at hospitals or clinics to assist with diagnosis and treatment. As our society ages and health care costs increase, government and private insurance payers are seeking technological interventions. Technological solutions may provide high quality healthcare services at a distance, utilize professional resources more effectively, and enable elderly and ill patients to remain in their own homes. Patients may experience decreased hospitalization and urgent care settings, and out of home care may not be required as the patient is monitored at home. However, no study has been able to prove telehealth

In the United States, a renewed interest occurred in telehealth in the 1990s according to McGonigle and Mastrian because of escalating costs, the need for greater access for all

Telehealth has become a preferred method of healthcare delivery for many patients and healthcare professionals alike. Some key benefits include its convenience and cost effectiveness. It also allows patients to play a more active role in their own healthcare, which has been found to dramatically increase patient outcomes. While research suggests that the advantages of telehealth outweigh the disadvantages, it is important to note that not everyone would benefit from this form of technology. It is crucial for the patient’s healthcare team to assess if this method of healthcare delivery is appropriate for that individual patient. In today’s society, staying current on the latest technologies is extremely important. Although telehealth

Many of these barriers exist from lack of essentially knowing the benefits of what the incorporation of telehealth can offer within the aspect of this type of community. At times, there has been a great interest in telehealth surrounding its potential to reduce health care costs along with the improvement of patient outcomes, but at times there has been no known scientific evidence base underpinning it (McLean, Sheikh, Cresswell, Nurmmatov, Mukherjee, Hemmi & Pagilari, 2013).

There are several forms of technology that is used to monitor, assist patients with self-care management, assist physicians with delivering care to their patients, including consultation with specialist, and overcoming barriers with transportation. “60% of the healthcare executives, physicians, and nurses in this inaugural survey said that telemedicine was a high priority for 2015“ (Vockley, 2015, para. 7) Telemedicine