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.
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 workmoving 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
As the nation slowly re-opens amid the COVID-19 pandemic and patients return to doctors’ offices in-person, demand still remains high for telehealth visits. According to a report earlier this year, virtual health care visits in the U.S. are on pace to top a record 1 billion by year’s end. What makes that statistic all the more remarkable is that just 24 percent of health care programs in the U.S. had an existing virtual health care program at the start of 2020.
This year’s rapid increase in demand for telehealth has been borne out of necessity, given that due to the pandemic, in-person patient visits were quickly deemed unsafe or infeasible nationwide. Many prior rules and regulations pertaining to telehealth usage, such as those around HIPAA regulations and payer coverage standards, were relaxed to encourage telehealth use.
Providers and patients alike quickly cast aside any prior concerns they may have had about telehealth quality, efficacy and ease of use, particularly for using telehealth to resolve pandemic-related health concerns. Of the more than 1 billion telehealth visits projected for 2020, noted above, 90 percent are related to COVID-19.
It remains to be seen if the relaxed regulatory and payer standards for telehealth will remain long-term. Many providers are naturally hesitant to invest further in telehealth right now, preferring to see what CMS and other payers decide long-term regarding telehealth visit rules and reimbursement standards.
The healthcare sector is digitizing at an amazing pace. According to Adroit Market Research, global medical healthcare eCommerce is anticipated to be over $435 billion by 2025. Initial digital transformation drivers were the aging population and the willingness of consumers to do their own online research. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has proven the value of medical device eCommerce as medical suppliers must increasingly rely on digital channels to service customers and grow their business.
eCommerce and the Medical Supply Industry
The B2B healthcare market is different from other forms of eCommerce. Maintaining compliance with complex and myriad regulations is a major challenge and has kept some players out. But for those who navigate the landmines of HIPPA and other medical data security issues, the medical equipment eCommerce niche is a highly lucrative market. Visit https://www.thehealthhub.com/ to get more information about advanced medical equipmnets.
Hospitals, clinics, and individual practices are relying more than ever on eCommerce to procure their medical supplies. In 2018, hospitals were the largest category of eCommerce healthcare buyers (over 53%). Medical devices account for 34% of eCommerce purchases in the healthcare space.
In 2019, the median age for purchasing professionals was 45 years old. This is the internet generation. They look to the internet from their smartphones, tablets, and laptops for solutions to their problems. Product research begins with an internet search. Amazon understands this and so should you.
In 2017, Amazon announced that Amazon Business would enter the medical supply and healthcare market and today they count 84 of the top 100 health systems as their customers. Not bad for less than three years of work.
What Medical Device Buyers Want
Like all professional buyers, medical supply procurement professionals are looking for exceptional customer experience. In 2020, customer experience is the main differentiator, even over price and product. And people are willing to pay more for an exceptional experience. It’s that important.
In the medical supply industry, sellers are using their eCommerce channel to provide proof of their dedication to customer satisfaction and client success. Something as simple as offering content that helps customers develop plans for rationing PPE and hand sanitizer or offering sales and support outside of regular business hours or providing for expedited and emergency deliveries provides buyers the customer experience they demand. In a post-pandemic environment, proving the strength of your supply chain is incredibly reassuring.
As purchasing agents are forced to do more with less and procure supplies from multiple sources, they are looking for a process with as little friction as possible. An eCommerce option is the solution they seek.
The path to purchase generally starts with a Google search. 94% of healthcare equipment buyers first research products online. It’s the beginning of the self-serve process that includes finding product specifications and technical information as well as case and use studies. These busy professionals appreciate a digital RFQ process and they also want assurances on product availability and your ability to deliver on time. Transparency in inventory status is valued in any supply chain, but it is especially critical in the medical supply market. An eCommerce site complete with live inventory levels lets medical supply buyers know what you have available.
The use of Telehealth services has seen remarkable growth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent 