Finding the Power of Telehealth: COVID-19 and Beyond
The coronavirus pandemic has impacted many industries–changing infrastructure, shifting perceptions of available tools and creating rapid innovation and technology adoption. After many months of the enduring pandemic, taking a brief respite to reflect on the changes that have occurred, and which ones will change the way healthcare is practiced and delivered, is important to continue to grow on an individual and system level.
COVID-19 has changed the outlook for healthcare technology, which is evident by specifically looking at telehealth. This is a technology that has been around for quite a while and is only now seeing rapid increased use and adoption due to physical distancing requirements of the pandemic. A recent McKinsey report cites that 76 percent of consumers are now interested in using telehealth going forward, as compared to the use of telehealth in 2019, which was at 11 percent. The report also states that with the acceleration of provider and consumer telehealth adoption, up to $250 billion of current United States (U.S.) healthcare spend could be virtualized. These statistics reflect what I have seen at my own practice, and are indicative of the rapidly changing healthcare industry.
While there are many hurdles in the way of continued implementation of telehealth, one of the biggest hurdles has already been jumped, which is patient and provider buy-in. Since using the technology more frequently and depending on it for appointments during the pandemic, each stakeholder has developed a willingness and interest to use telehealth. There are many examples of each patients and providers realizing the benefit of telehealth in their lives for convenience, efficiency and even relationship building by enabling a more personal touch in traditionally professional interactions.
For providers specifically, telehealth has provided a range of benefits. The technology allows for remote monitoring, especially of chronic diseases or infections that need frequent check-ups and follow-up visits to keep an eye on the status of disease progression. Virtual visits streamline the disease monitoring process, allowing for physicians to keep a closer eye on the patient with the flexibility of booking frequent appointments, while not constrained by needing to be in-person. There is also a convenience factor offered by telehealth that, unlike some other industries, physicians have not previously been able to enjoy, namely being able to work from home using a secure platform to conduct online visits. With this added flexibility, providers are able to tend to their garden, grab an extra cup of coffee or call a loved one in between appointments in the comfort of their own home.
Specifically, in family medicine using telehealth has been a welcomed addition and a fairly easy adjustment as perhaps compared to other specialties, adding value to the care of patients on a few fronts. In my practice, we had been using telehealth before the pandemic, but fairly infrequently. We ramped up online visits quickly since March, transitioning quite seamlessly. General check-ups and group visits are much easier to coordinate and conduct efficiently. Telehealth has allowed for further engagement of patients as well as building more personal relationships with patients, since interactions tend to be less formal in an at-home setting. This also helps with providing optimal care, allowing doctors, especially in family medicine, to see patients in their home environment and pick up on clues that help with diagnosis and treatment, which may have otherwise gone unmentioned or undiscovered.
From the patient perspective, telehealth adoption was also initially slow before the pandemic but has proven to be of great value to engagement and the healthcare delivery experience. With the recent, rapid and widespread telehealth adoption, patients have also realized its convenience: being able to schedule quick check-ups with physicians in between meetings allows the patient to avoid taking the day off from work, having parking payments, commuting to the doctor’s office, for example – all of which take more time and energy than the actual appointment in most cases. In fact, this may encourage patients who have cut annual physicals out of their health routine, for example, to begin scheduling them again, improving the system of preventative care and the patients’ relationship with healthcare. Providing increased engagement, convenience and a level of comfort to the patient with this updated model of delivery has the potential to improve the patient’s relationship not only with the health system, their doctors included, but also their own investment in their health and wellbeing.
One example from my own clinical experience is a patient of mine who had a cut on his toe and needed to schedule an appointment right away, as it was becoming infected. He was worried about going in-person to have his foot checked out and was unsure about the best next steps during the pandemic. He reached out and I suggested that we coordinate an eClinicalWorks healow TeleVisits™ appointment. I examined the patient through the secure telehealth platform, and was able to reduce his anxiety by conducting the visit with him remaining in the comfort of his own home, and providing my counsel quickly after his initial concern. Additionally, I monitored the status of the patient's health after the initial visit – a huge plus as I like to be able to keep an ongoing eye on infections, which is hard to keep up with when only scheduling in-person visits. This is a huge benefit and very exciting aspect of telehealth technology! This one anecdote paints a larger picture around the value brought to patients and providers by telehealth, showcasing why it will continue to be used after the pandemic.
While the number of telehealth visits may not remain as high as they have climbed during the pandemic, the shift to virtual care delivery will persist. A silver lining of this very trying time for both patients and providers, is finding the value of telehealth: realizing that many visits do not require being in-person, learning to optimize patient outcomes through a new combination of delivering care and finding interoperability through telehealth tools. Technology like that of eClinicalWorks integrates telehealth with its electronic health record (EHR) platform, allowing easy, secure transfer of the appointment data into the EHRs. The future holds a balanced mixture of visit types, with an increasing number of online appointments to fit busy schedules and meet consumer demands of wanting rapid care, allowing patients to check-in with physicians almost instantaneously after the initial realization of needing a clinical opinion.
This brief exploration of the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the adoption of telehealth is indicative of the larger transformation in healthcare delivery happening now. The healthcare system is moving from a long-standing brick and mortar model to one with a large dependence on virtual care, deepening focus on patient-centricity and engagement, while using advanced technology to efficiently manage large amounts of high-quality data for optimized patient outcomes. While the past few months have exposed many cracks in the healthcare system, it has also shown the great opportunities that lie ahead for high-quality clinical care – I move towards them with great excitement for both me and my patients.
Dr. Gregory Carlson, M.D., FAAFP, is a family medicine provider at TexomaCare.