Telehealth as new channel of care.

Videoconferencing capabilities lead the way as foundational technology for supporting Telehealth use cases. Adoption of Telehealth technologies can mature to become a complimentary and value added new channel of care.

This is not the technology to replace primary care. It is complimentary, including, easy and quick access of health care to clients and implementation of person centric/centered care for providers. This article looks into the current and opportunistic use cases of Telehealth technologies. Behavioral Health and community influences of health provide the opportunistic, immediate and quick adoption use cases. Videoconferencing is the opportunistic technology to begin Telehealth adoption. Various technologies that support Telehealth have matured to support health care services with fully integrated platforms. Its evolution can be mapped out to include integration with Electronic Health Records (EHR) systems, Health Information Exchanges (HIEs), etc. In addition, integrations with the Internet of Things (IOT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Smart Healthcare tools can be the future of this new channel.

Telehealth Roadmap

Brief look into Telehealth technologies and roadmap supporting community influences of health.

Wikipedia defines Telehealth as a telecommunication tools and solutions in delivering health related services. It’s receiving healthcare regardless of location of the clients and/or providers. This opens up “boundary-less” opportunities. Currently, Telehealth use cases stop at using videoconferencing. Videoconferencing facilitates the foundational requirement of face to face sessions regardless of location. Remote evaluation is an example of videoconferencing technology supporting healthcare services. Videoconferencing in this scenario supports conducting a conference between two or more participants at different sites by using computer networks to transmit audio and video data. Hence meeting the definition of Telehealth. But videoconferencing by itself is not Telehealth, there is a difference. Telehealth technologies access health care services remotely to support health care services. For example, Telehealth platform that supports prevention or intervention services remotely. This is accomplished through integration of systems and technologies in support of a service, similar to what happens in a physical provider setting but with the difference of remote, boundary less service.

Telehealth technologies certainly have benefits for adoption. Being accessible to the client accessible to the client, to reach where they are and not require them to travel to see the provider. Healthcare service at the tip of client’s fingers, literally on their phones, is a possibility of this technology. Community influences of health has opportunistic use cases for Telehealth technology adoption. Community influences of health are broadly classified into 5 main categories with multiple influences. They include Economic Stability such as poverty, employment, food security, housing stability. Education such as high school graduation, higher education, language and literacy, early childhood education. Social and Community Context such as social cohesion, civic participation, discrimination, incarceration. Health and Health Care such as access to Health Care, Access to Primary Care. Health literacy, and finally Neighborhood and Built Environment such as access to healthy foods, quality of housing, crime and violence, environmental conditions etc. Each or many of these influences can be accessed for Telehealth platform opportunities of impact.

Telehealth platforms maturity will include roadmap that begins with videoconferencing uses but will mature to include and integrate supportive information systems. It begins with communication capabilities maturing to support healthcare services. It can be as simple as a FaceTime appointment check in or nurse calls. With milestones to support access to health care that integrate with electronic health record systems for easy access of client data. Integration with provider systems leads to easy sharing of client data between providers. The roadmap can extend to include other technologies such as unified communication, collaboration platforms, smart healthcare tools, GPS, AI analytics and more to support immediate access to holistic healthcare use cases. All of these capabilities must be supported with hyper sensitivity to security and compliance requirements. By 2025, Telehealth technologies can mature to be a seamless channel of healthcare that providers use to reach their clients. This is a no-brainer for providers and clients to provide and receive boundary-less services.

Telehealth as new channel of care.

Videoconferencing capabilities lead the way as foundational technology for supporting Telehealth use cases. Adoption of Telehealth technologies can mature to become a complimentary and value added new channel of care.

This is not the technology to replace primary care. It is complimentary, including, easy and quick access of health care to clients and implementation of person centric/centered care for providers. This article looks into the current and opportunistic use cases of Telehealth technologies. Behavioral Health and community influences of health provide the opportunistic, immediate and quick adoption use cases. Videoconferencing is the opportunistic technology to begin Telehealth adoption. Various technologies that support Telehealth have matured to support health care services with fully integrated platforms. Its evolution can be mapped out to include integration with Electronic Health Records (EHR) systems, Health Information Exchanges (HIEs), etc. In addition, integrations with the Internet of Things (IOT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Smart Healthcare tools can be the future of this new channel.

Telehealth Roadmap

Brief look into Telehealth technologies and roadmap supporting community influences of health.

Wikipedia defines Telehealth as a telecommunication tools and solutions in delivering health related services. It’s receiving healthcare regardless of location of the clients and/or providers. This opens up “boundary-less” opportunities. Currently, Telehealth use cases stop at using videoconferencing. Videoconferencing facilitates the foundational requirement of face to face sessions regardless of location. Remote evaluation is an example of videoconferencing technology supporting healthcare services. Videoconferencing in this scenario supports conducting a conference between two or more participants at different sites by using computer networks to transmit audio and video data. Hence meeting the definition of Telehealth. But videoconferencing by itself is not Telehealth, there is a difference. Telehealth technologies access health care services remotely to support health care services. For example, Telehealth platform that supports prevention or intervention services remotely. This is accomplished through integration of systems and technologies in support of a service, similar to what happens in a physical provider setting but with the difference of remote, boundary less service.

Telehealth technologies certainly have benefits for adoption. Being accessible to the client accessible to the client, to reach where they are and not require them to travel to see the provider. Healthcare service at the tip of client’s fingers, literally on their phones, is a possibility of this technology. Community influences of health has opportunistic use cases for Telehealth technology adoption. Community influences of health are broadly classified into 5 main categories with multiple influences. They include Economic Stability such as poverty, employment, food security, housing stability. Education such as high school graduation, higher education, language and literacy, early childhood education. Social and Community Context such as social cohesion, civic participation, discrimination, incarceration. Health and Health Care such as access to Health Care, Access to Primary Care. Health literacy, and finally Neighborhood and Built Environment such as access to healthy foods, quality of housing, crime and violence, environmental conditions etc. Each or many of these influences can be accessed for Telehealth platform opportunities of impact.

Telehealth platforms maturity will include roadmap that begins with videoconferencing uses but will mature to include and integrate supportive information systems. It begins with communication capabilities maturing to support healthcare services. It can be as simple as a FaceTime appointment check in or nurse calls. With milestones to support access to health care that integrate with electronic health record systems for easy access of client data. Integration with provider systems leads to easy sharing of client data between providers. The roadmap can extend to include other technologies such as unified communication, collaboration platforms, smart healthcare tools, GPS, AI analytics and more to support immediate access to holistic healthcare use cases. All of these capabilities must be supported with hyper sensitivity to security and compliance requirements. By 2025, Telehealth technologies can mature to be a seamless channel of healthcare that providers use to reach their clients. This is a no-brainer for providers and clients to provide and receive boundary-less services.