Category: Editorial

Virtual Care Is Not a Flash In The Pan: Adapt Your Strategy Accordingly

By Erin Jospe, MD, chief medical officer, Kyruus.

Erin Jospe, MD

The digital age has changed our interactions and expectations in ways both big and small—from how we shop and travel, to how we communicate and connect with one another. As with all other industries, the pressures and the possibilities of these technological advancements has spurred digital innovation in healthcare.

However, with the additional stressors of COVID-19, the healthcare industry’s acceptance and adoption of these applications has skyrocketed, as has the opportunity to explore creative uses of these platforms while examining ways to improve both outcomes and experiences.

Virtual care, broadly defined as remote interactions between patients and healthcare providers, has been a part of the healthcare delivery ecosystem for years. It has been an option for some patients, particularly for low-acuity episodic care where convenience is the highest priority when resolving the clinical need, but it has not been widely pursued nor embraced by either providers or patients until now.

In a recent survey of 1,000 patients who utilized virtual care in 2020, 72% had their first-ever virtual visit during the pandemic. With the sudden onset of COVID-19, convenience was no longer the sole driver for pursuing virtual care, but rather a combination of safety, speed of access, and convenience.

Given that the majority of patients using virtual care are new to this care delivery method, health systems need to educate the patient community on both the availability of these types of appointments and on what to expect before, during, and after them. In the aforementioned survey, 52% of respondents received outreach from their established providers, with an additional 15% and 13% hearing from their health system and insurance companies, respectively.

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How Is Technology Giving The Health Insurance Sector A Boost?

Technology and the Internet of Things (IoT) are having a big impact on health care and health insurance, with research by Bain predicting that the revenue obtained from IoT and analytics alone will reach 22 billion by 2025.

In the health insurance sector, technologies such as artificial intelligence are enabling companies to sift through millions of pieces of data to find ways to reduce premiums, match products with their ideal target market, and generate new business leads. How can technology empower health insurance brands to deliver better service and build a larger client base?

Wearable Technology

Current leaders in the health insurance industry often ask beneficiaries to use wearable devices that track activity and calorie intake. Doing so enables them to collect vital information that can be used to offer reward programs. Various insurance providers are offering discounted rates on health insurance, and life insurance for diabetics.  Discounts may seem small at first, but over the lifetime of a policy, consumers can save thousands of dollars.

It also encourages wearers to take vital steps to prevent obesity, Type 2 diabetes, stress, and other diseases and conditions linked to an inactive lifestyle or to a poor diet comprising high percentages of sugar and refined ingredients.

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3 Things That Can Help Make Relocating Aging Relatives Easier

If you have an aging relative, such as a parent or a grandparent, who lives farther away from you than you would like, you might wish to consider relocating them. There are many reasons why one might wish to take the steps to relocate an aging relative.

Perhaps the benefits that they might receive in your state as opposed to their own are more desirable for someone in their physical situation. You might feel that your relative is no longer able to take care of themselves without daily assistance, and you would like to provide that assistance by having them move in with you. It could very well be the case that you simply would like to be closer to them so as to spend more time together.

Whatever your reasons may be, relocating an aging relative, especially one who has underlying health issues, can be a challenge. However, there are a few things that can help to make the process a bit easier both on you and on your loved one.

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How To Ensure Telehealth Solutions Meet the Needs of A Post-Pandemic Future

By Chad Reid, vice president of marketing and communications, JotForm.

Chad Reid

When it comes to telehealth, COVID-19 has been something of a game-changer. The popularity of telehealth has been growing steadily, but patients generally viewed it as a complementary service to their regular in-person care. Until recently, that is.

As the pandemic continues to rage across the nation, telehealth has become a necessity. According to early data, telemedicine firms have seen as much as a 50% increase in the volume of visits during the pandemic. It might seem tempting to view that statistic as a temporary spike, but it reflects a trend that was already gaining momentum.

This increase in demand has put a strain on many institutions whose telemedicine solutions were either nonexistent before the pandemic or not designed for such heavy use. It has also thrown the flaws in existing systems into plain view, making it clear that there’s still plenty of room for improvement.

Wherever you might have been on your telemedicine journey pre-pandemic, your position has probably changed. Regardless of past experiences, it’s time for the healthcare industry to figure out how to make telehealth work moving forward.

Navigating Telehealth Benefits and Challenges

Telehealth has the potential to revolutionize access to healthcare. In theory, it lets people in rural areas reach specialists anywhere in the country and expands affordable care options to low-income patients. Unfortunately, that potential hasn’t always become a reality. Historically, these groups have been the least likely to take advantage of all that telemedicine has to offer.

That may be changing, though. The pandemic has not only smashed through many of the existing barriers to telehealth adoption — making it more widely available and used — but it has also pushed insurance companies to increase acceptance of these visits.

Done right, telehealth services can increase access and improve quality of care through remote monitoring and more frequent check-ins. Telehealth can also save everyone money — particularly the patients with chronic conditions who account for 90% of annual healthcare costs. To achieve these benefits, though, telemedicine has to be implemented in a purposeful, cohesive way that protects patient privacy and encourages care continuity.

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Why Point of Care Testing (POCT) Is On The Rise In The Medical World 

There was a time when the only way a patient could receive comprehensive diagnostic medical tests was through a laboratory. The process often took days or weeks and was expensive, tedious, and sometimes frightening. In the last decade, however, point of care testing (POCT) has arisen as a formidable and inspirational adversary to lab-based tests.

The two methodologies (point of care testing versus lab-based tests) can and often do work together, allowing doctors and medical professionals the opportunity to cross-check and confirm results. However, there is no doubt that point of care testing is definitely a rising star in the medical/healthcare technology world. The current coronavirus pandemic may further expedite that trend.

Let’s take a look at a few of the reasons why point of care testing is currently such a valuable industry in the medical world …

Better Technology

In recent years, the blood testing industry has gone into overdrive with its technological innovation. It is now possible to acquire a comprehensive sequence of affordable diagnostic tests in 20 minutes with nothing more than a single tiny blood sample.

These new groundbreaking point of care testing diagnostics are the result of three testing modalities — clinical chemistries, immunoassay, and hematology assays — converging into a single platform. In some cases, all that is needed is a single instrument with no refrigeration necessary.

Novel reagent technology has also transformed the concept of reliable, accurate on-site testing diagnostics, essentially eliminating the need for offsite labs that sometimes require weeks of waiting to get results.

The COVID-19 Pandemic

As they say, necessity is the mother of innovation.

The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic has forever changed the medical industry (not to mention the whole world) and the need for rapid antibody testing will almost assuredly permanently transform the way we think about epidemiology and infectious diseases.

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Working In Healthcare

When selecting a career, most people want something that pays well and is in demand. This ensures some level of job security. While some people have strong passions they want to follow in their career, others want something reliable and are happy to pursue their passions outside of work.

One industry that can offer competitive compensation, demand, and interesting work is healthcare. If you think this industry only includes hands-on care, such as nursing, you are mistaken. Just like any industry, the field requires people in all types of positions to keep everything running seamlessly. If you are interested in marketing, technology, management, or any other field, you can probably find a job in the industry.

Why Work in Healthcare?

These jobs come with many perks. In addition to paying well, they typically offer solid benefits. As you would expect, insurance is generally top-notch, and you often get the opportunity to participate in free or low-cost wellness endeavors, such as annual flu shots and low-cost lab tests.

If you think that all of this sounds interesting, you may be curious about how to break in. The wealth of available jobs provides plenty of opportunities, but there are some things you can do to make yourself an attractive candidate.

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Hayes Launches Revenue Optimizer To Help Hospitals and Healthcare Organizations Reverse Revenue Declines, Reduce Claim Denials

Finding new revenue opportunities and avoiding claims denials has taken on greater urgency as hospitals and other healthcare organizations face growing reimbursement shortfalls in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is why Hayes, makers of the industry’s leading integrated compliance and revenue integrity platform for the nation’s premier healthcare organizations, has launched Revenue Optimizer to equip healthcare organizations with actionable insights that help eliminate barriers to revenue integrity and manage overall financial performance.

A study commissioned by the American Hospital Association (AHA) found that many U.S. hospitals were struggling with ongoing operational losses well before COVID-19, and the median hospital margin overall was a razor-thin 3.5%.

Even with government support from the CARES Act, these margins were projected to drop to -7% in the second half of 2020 without further federal intervention. The study also concluded that, post-pandemic, at least half of the nation’s hospitals would continue operating with margins in the red without any additional support.

“Adding to existing bottom-line struggles, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services identified $29 billion in improper payments in 2019—a trend that will continue as regulatory scrutiny turns to COVID-19 incentive payments.

Further, the addition of nearly 750 new CPT and ICD-10 codes—on top of COVID-19 changes—has created a compliance nightmare that will only exacerbate a devastating financial impact if healthcare organizations can’t stop the hemorrhaging,” said Hayes CTO Ritesh Ramesh, noting that Hayes identified a 20% increase in denials totaling $2.5 billion related to COVID-19 coding and reimbursement challenges alone in the first half of 2020 among MDaudit Enterprise cohorts.

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The Rise of Telehealth During COVID-19

By Matthew Zajechowski, content strategist, Digital Third Coast.

The use of Telehealth services has seen remarkable growth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent research found that 67% of Americans have used telehealth services during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is up from 46% prior to COVID-19. One might wonder if this growth is temporary or poised for more long-term growth post-pandemic.

To learn more about the growing trend of telehealth use, my agency worked with a data management firm to survey the American public about their experiences using telehealth during COVID-19 and whether or not they plan to continue to use these virtual medical services in the future.

Telehealth and Covid-19

One immediate observation that we learned as a result of this analysis is that 71% of Americans are currently fearful to visit their doctor’s office due to COVID-19. Because of these fears, many people have shifted towards using telehealth services during the pandemic. While 63% of respondents were originally apprehensive about their first telehealth visit, 72% reported enjoying their first telehealth experience.

What patients like most about telehealth

Why do patients prefer seeing a doctor virtually as opposed to in-person? Convivence safety and flexibility with appointments were the top responses. Many patients are shifting to telehealth as a means to avoid potential virus exposure.

Shorter wait-times are also driving people to telehealth appointments during the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients reported spending less time both between scheduling the appointment and the visit as well as time spent waiting in a virtual waiting room to be seen.

Access to care is another positive trend from increased telehealth use during COVID-19. Eighty percent (80%) of surveyed respondents believe telehealth has improved their ability to receive access to care during the pandemic. Seventy percent (70%) feel that telehealth provides adequate care and 65% believe telehealth provides accurate diagnosis to symptoms.

Telehealth visits also have the potential to replace some medical visits depending on the severity of the ailment. Sixty-six percent of our surveyed respondents feel telehealth will ultimately end up replacing in-person doctor visits that don’t require hands-on exams; 69% said they are less likely to use an ER or urgent care for non-life-threatening visits in the future if telehealth becomes more available.

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