By Rahul Varshneya, founder and president, Arkenea.
Rural communities, often located amid isolated yet beautiful landscapes, are a defining feature of much of the United States of America. But those same landscapes can, at times, make it arduous for people to gain access to something as basic as a healthcare facility.
In these regions, patients are often tens of hundreds of miles from the location of their nearest caregiver. Community hospitals, with limited budgets and low volumes, generally don’t have specialists. And even if they do, there are too few to ensure constant coverage.
Telehealth is transforming these situations to everyone’s advantage.
A recent study of Intermountain’s neonatal telehealth program evaluated the effect of video-assisted resuscitation on the transfer of newborns from eight community hospitals to newborn ICUs in Level 3 trauma centers. The service produced a 29.4% reduction in a newborn’s odds of being transferred, which corresponds annually to 67 fewer transfers — and estimated savings of $1.2 million for affected families.
By leveraging telehealth, patients can receive expert treatment locally without the added cost and risk of transfer to a bigger hospital. Local hospitals retain vital revenue and ameliorate their services. Community members get better care that’s based on evidence-based best practices. Health care is far better overall.
1) Bringing Patients and Care Providers Closer for Better Outcomes
Most patients in the rural or suburban settings of the southwest, like the ones living in the remote terrains of Nevada, lack the necessary resources to travel to a healthcare facility.
Even for patients living in the urban areas, public transportation can be grueling and tedious. Less mobile or older patients might also not always have family or acquaintances who can be their caretaker and take them for frequent clinical visits.
Telemedicine can help such patients feel more independent. One study found that the use of a specific home-telemedicine strategy for care coordination improved functional independence in non-institutionalized veterans with chronic conditions.
Not only does telemedicine adoption help patients manage their conditions, it is equally beneficial for healthcare providers too.
Hospitals, clinics, public health offices and private practice healthcare providers in the southwest have been receiving free technical assistance for implementing or expanding their current telemedicine programs from various government authorities for quite some time now.
Since laws governing telehealth and reimbursement greatly differ by state, various Telehealth Research Centers (TRCs) spread across the country help providers discover the latest telemedicine and telehealth laws and regulations that apply in the state where the provider’s practice is based.
TRCs are also helping providers – generally free of charge – in developing a business model for telehealth in their healthcare setting, selecting the appropriate telemedicine platform as well as equipment, and providing education to patients alike on how to leverage telemedicine technologies to improve health outcomes and access to healthcare services.
The internet, online websites, and mobile applications have simplified our lives. It is no longer an option but has become a basic necessity for leading a comfortable life. Therefore, as the world is advancing, more and more sectors are entering the digital market. The medical industry is not an exception.
Today, medical applications have enabled users to access medical facilities from their homes. Thanks to medical apps, people can now keep tabs on their health-related data and take necessary actions to fight diseases even before their first symptoms start showing themselves. It has proved to be beneficial for serving the people living in inaccessible areas.
Now, the clinics’ administrative duties are easy to complete, and it also takes less time. It is easier to maintain and organize files, search for old records with doctors, share the documents with other clinics, and make/cancel appointments.
Biological psychiatry is a type of psychiatric that analyzes mental disorders from chemical, neurological, and physical viewpoints and in which psychiatrists prescribe treatment protocols accordingly. The approach also is known as biopsychiatry.
Biological psychiatry brings various scientific disciplines from several sectors, including biology, genetics, neuroscience, and psychopharmacology, with the overwhelming intent of understanding mental illness as a product of the nervous system’s biological functioning.
Biological psychiatry traces its origins to the Greek physician Hippocrates. During the last 150 years, physical factors have been studied to determine possible hooks into developing antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs.
Therapies, including imipramine and Thorazine, which encouraged biological processes and healthy chemical operation, profoundly impacted the study of the nervous system’s relationship with mental illness. Most research related to it is focused on bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer’s disease by way of brain imaging, medication management, and diet and exercise plans.
We have turned a page to the next chapter in healthcare for the US. At its core is a new delivery system in which we leverage all available tools to allocate our precious resources, and the patient is at the center of it all.
We have a severe shortage of providers in the U.S. and must utilize the right tools at the right time to match patients to the right resources in the right place. In addition, healthcare needs to be more consumer-centric, as we are witnessing a rising demand of patients seeking options like telehealth that deliver high quality care faster, more conveniently, and affordably.
Lastly, as we adapt our care deliver models in the future, we need to keep an eye on reducing the stark inequities that have become glaringly apparent during this pandemic. Modalities like telehealth hold the promise to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate access to care through expanded networks and to help close gaps in care and address social determinants of health.
Telehealth solutions can be used to optimize the efficiency of healthcare delivery and ultimately improve patient experience. One mode of telehealth, eConsults, ensure that patients are treated by the right provider in the right setting, by facilitating effective peer collaboration that can support all providers to operate at the top of their license. What that means in practice is that primary care providers can get guidance from specialists to help design care plans, and that in-person visits to specialists can be reserved for those patients with more complex issues who cannot be treated virtually.
The emergence of technology is rampant nowadays. From the convenience of the person using it allows reduction of legwork in a few touches of the smartphone. In order to run a business-like Gym Management Software, here are some things you need to consider:
Registration of Gym members online
Automation of monthly payments
Upgrade software for the weekly program
Progress tracking thru online
Sell Retail Products
Registration of Gym members Online
One of the most important parts of having a digital support such as gym management software is to have the proper registry of the aspiring members. It inculcates the need of modernizing the demography of the registrant such as age, weight, height, and identification if there are some health hazards and limitations upon joining the membership in the gym. It reduces the risks of exposing the information through the online way of information safekeeping.
Since it is essential to a person’s health monitoring, a start-up based on demographics is equivalent to proper training and nutrition. This will be the guide on how to provide the training programs and online registration identifies the situation and physical analysis of a member. This keeps the proper track and improvements of the member. Thus, the indication of improvement of an individual is registering online with correct demographics.
When you have a close friend who is struggling with addiction, it can be painful and challenging to watch the destruction they experience. If you’re unsure of how to approach the situation and interact as they have an addiction, there are a few main steps to take.
Create Trust
Establishing trust with a close friend is essential as they struggle with addiction to ensure they’re still open to your suggestions and guidance. Avoid nagging or criticizing them, which can make them become defensive and feel judged. You also want to avoid exaggerating or calling them names, which can lead to the individual distancing themselves from your relationship.
Practice Communication
Communication is key to getting your friend the help you need and helping them realize the severity of the situation. It can also allow them to be supported if they’re ready to seek professional help. Remain honest about your feelings and don’t try to sugarcoat your emotions to ensure the individual understands how their addiction has personally affected you.
Since the invention of the stethoscope, technology and innovation have been transforming how the healthcare industry delivers improved standards of care for individuals in every field of medicine. A more recent example of this is the widespread adoption of telehealth capabilities to bring care directly to patients no matter where they are.
This adoption trend has accelerated in response to COVID-19, when the use of telehealth technology skyrocketed with 48% of physicians meeting patients online in April. Since then, telehealth appointments have begun to level off and decline, but over the past year and the foreseeable future, telehealth and the delivery of care through screens and mobile devices will likely play a key role in the future of healthcare.
However, the increased use of telehealth creates additional risks stemming from increased data generation and data sharing such as video recordings, email exchanges between physicians and patients, and broader sharing of protected health information (PHI) between patients, providers and third-party organizations. This level of sharing increases the likelihood that data may become stored in an unsecured location. As for the healthcare providers and all other organizations that handle PHI, the challenge is now to get a better grasp on compliance, protect patient data and mitigate the risk of malicious actors or reputation damaging fines. Here’s how to do it:
Understanding the Rising Risk to Patient Data
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was established in 1996 and has since served to give patients power over their health records and hold healthcare organizations and their partners accountable for safeguarding the PHI data of patients.
HIPAA generally applies to PHI in all forms, but the Security Rule applies specifically to electronic PHI (ePHI). And as telehealth becomes a new normal and the administrative workforce continues to work remotely, ePHI’s presence will proliferate making compliance an even more extensive task. Meaning that while telehealth offers many tangible benefits to patients and providers, it is also a double-edged sword that requires heightened attention not just now but at all times. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
My name is Heather Wood, and I am a CPXP (certified patient experience professional) and vice president of clinical innovation at eVideon. Over the last three plus decades I have worked in a variety of spaces within healthcare including public and community health where I got my start, as well as corporate wellness, hospital patient education, and healthcare technology. I have specifically worked in healthcare technology and patient experience for more than 20 years which has been a perfect fit blending my range of experience.
Patient engagement and improving the patient experience can mean many different things. What does it mean to you?
To me, because of my focus, it means using smart technology to provide personalized information along with very well-developed education, delivered to patients and their loved ones in order to improve their self-health efficacy, as well as their ability to have more meaningful discussions with their healthcare providers, and ultimately their ability to care for themselves as best as possible.
For the best possible outcomes, technology driven patient education and information should:
Be delivered to the device the patient feels most comfortable using
Share targeted information and education specific to the patient’s current stage of care, the information and education should include the ability to be repeated and shared. The information should be short, specific, digestible, and written at/about a 5th grade reading level and is available in the patients preferred language.
Deliver education and information in real-time to maintain consistency and minimize the nurse’s burden. In doing so, nurses will have more time to provide quality bedside care – which will result in greatly improved patient experiences and when possible, better health outcomes.
Offer easy access to relaxation and entertainment content in order to ease patient stress levels which allows for better rest and sleep, and overall facilitate a more positive experience.
Be interoperable. All shared information must be a consistent and accurate across all technologies and come from the source of truth.
Provide the ability for patients and loved ones to easily connect with technology so they can see and hear each other when they cannot be together. Given the pandemic, patient engagement should also prioritize patient interactions with their support systems. Video visits created just for healthcare are critical to care – especially for end-of-life and isolation.
The ability to use technology to provide real time service recovery and offering service requests that go directly to the service line being requested, without adding to the nurse’s steps.
As you see it, what are the gaps or missed opportunities in patient engagement?
Patient engagement technology has become a “have to have” instead of what used to be a nice to have. The most significant gap is not all healthcare organizations, across the continuum of care, have invested in a technology platform that offers their patients, loved ones and their staff easy access to consistent, efficient and effective education, information, communication and entertainment/relaxation. Starting small is completely okay, having a solid technology platform to build on, with a partner who is willing to create with the healthcare team, is critical to easing clinical burden, improving patient experience, and health outcomes. Using a patient experience platform also improves the confidence patients, and the community have in the healthcare organization by demonstrating that they are using the most innovative ways to care for their patients.
