Tech & Innovation in Healthcare
Imagining the Future of Telehealth
Could an all-in-one virtual care option be on the horizon? During the heights of COVID-19, telehealth allowed providers to continue to care for patients virtually and stay afloat fiscally. Despite telehealth becoming more mainstream, equity and tech struggles still abound, but industry insiders aim to address these issues head on. Context: On Dec. 8, 2022, healthcare experts talked about the challenges of telemedicine and shared their thoughts for the technology in 2023 during the American Medical Association (AMA) Steps Forward Innovation Academy and the Telehealth Immersion Program panel discussion, “2022 Telehealth Retrospective & 2023 Predictions.” Learn what the panelists had to say about the state of virtual care. Evaluate the Challenges for Telehealth According to the AMA’s 2022 digital health research findings, approximately 80 percent of surveyed physicians were using telehealth compared to only 28 percent in 2019. While telehealth use and adoption has grown in popularity in the past three years, not every provider uses it, and that could be due to the lack of evidence surrounding the technology. “Healthcare is very much driven by evidence-based medicine. We’re not seeing enough evidence just because these kinds of studies are not getting funded. We’re not seeing enough funding going into the research in this space,” said Eyal Zimlichman, MD, MSc (MHCM), chief innovation and transformation officer at Sheba Medical Center. Once more research is performed and the evidence illustrates how telemedicine is an effective tool to provide better care, better outcomes, and lower payments, more physicians will begin to adopt the technology. “That’s how many physicians work. They’re looking for that evidence. They want to see that [telehealth] provides value, improves quality, and reduces costs,” Dr. Zimlichman added. Finding the right technology to implement into your practice is another hurdle that providers are facing. Big technology companies are developing devices and software while healthcare systems are trying to keep up with the technology industry giants. At the same time, several startups are developing individual products to solve individual problems, which adds to the competition and confusion in the marketplace. “We’ve got a lot of different types of technology. It’s really a noisy space, and it’s making it very difficult for buyers to make a good, solid decision on what’s the right technology pathway to go,” said Lisa Lavin, founder and CEO, Ōmcare Inc. Another difficulty facing telemedicine’s growth revolves around interoperability — or the lack of adoption throughout the United States. “Every state needs to be on board, and they are not, at present,” added Tory Cenaj, founder and publisher of Telehealth and Medicine Today. Learn How Virtual Care is Currently Evolving Telemedicine is probably best known as a video chat with a patient to discuss an ailment, perform a follow-up visit, or go over recent test results. However, with the popularity of remote patient monitoring (RPM) devices and artificial intelligence (AI), telemedicine takes on an entirely different look and extends a provider’s care reach. For example, Sheba Medical Center is currently conducting a study exploring the effectiveness of their hospital-at-home program. The program allows healthcare providers in the hospital to manage patients with acute conditions while the patient is still at home. Providers use telemedicine to connect with the patient while the patient is in their home. “There’s no doctor that actually comes to the home, but rather a doctor from the unit on the floors is conducting virtual rounds on patients at home,” Dr. Zimlichman said. The hybrid inpatient units have physical and virtual beds, which gives the physician the option to treat the patient in the hospital or over telemedicine depending on clinical factors. Dr. Zimlichman added that regardless of whether the physician is caring for the patient over telemedicine or in the actual hospital, the patient is regarded as hospitalized. While telemedicine is beneficial to providing better care and improving outcomes, patients will continue to seek comfort from their healthcare professionals. “Virtual care is powered by tech, and, let’s not forget, the soft touch of caregivers, and that includes nurses and allied health professionals, who will be playing a more pivotal role as we move forward in healthcare,” Cenaj added. Looking Ahead to Telemedicine’s Future in 2023 and Beyond As the panelists looked ahead to 2023, they shared their views on where they thought virtual care was headed. One way Dr. Zimlichman looked at telemedicine was as a way to improve prescription compliance and overall care for patients living with chronic diseases. “We’ve been very focused on pharma and medication when it comes to chronic disease, missing on many issues, one of which is adherence. You can have the best medication, but if you don’t take it, it won’t have an effect. Now we’re realizing it’s much more complicated, more comprehensive, and that’s where digital tools will have to come into play,” Dr. Zimlichman said. With wearable technology, sensors, chatbots, and other technologies, physicians will be able to monitor their patients’ adherence more closely to help provide better care. Another way telemedicine could evolve is by becoming a complete, seamless package. “I think we’re going to start seeing more aggregated, all-in-one technology starting to come to light,” Lavin said. Much like your smartphone contains a digital camera, calculator, email, and text messaging capabilities, developing virtual care technologies to create an all-in-one solution will be beneficial for physicians providing care. You may also see partnerships between healthcare professionals and those in the technology sphere in 2023. “We’re also going to start seeing some joint ventures between technology and providers that are really going to move the needle and get us further down the football field,” Lavin added. Stay tuned to Tech & Innovation in Healthcare for more advances in telemedicine.
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Imagining the Future of Telehealth
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