$ It Needs a Push - The Tele-Health Practices

It gives clinicians and hospitals access to patient data on real time basis and that to at the point of care, using wired or wireless technology. 

Spearheading the Efforts:

Expansion of the Tele-health concept took shape primarily due to concerns about quality of care and cost.  Keeping in view the need to improve the quality of care, Center for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) has already proposed changes in Policy and Payment structures starting from January 2012 for outpatient care both in Hospitals and Ambulatory Surgical Centers. Another important change proposed by CMS is in the Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program for hospitals. These proposals would go a long way in strengthening the quality of outpatient care. 

Finalization of regulations for use of Medical Device Data Systems is already under way. The FDA has already started the finalization processes adopting a patient centered approach. It is further encouraged by the success of the Tele-health program mooted by the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) covering 36,000 patients where it was able to reduce the rate of hospital admissions significantly. 

Optimism:

The American Telemedicine Association (ATA) expects the adoption of telemedicine technologies to grow exponentially because nearly one in four Americans is covered under a managed care health insurance program. Healthcare providers see considerable benefits of telemedicine in the areas of continuing medical education, specialist referral services and patient consultations. Another report released by MarketResearch.com, Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) is one area where Technical advancement is expected to play a major role contributing to its continuous growth. The report states that the global patient monitoring system market will reach $9.3 billion in 2014 and it would minimize hospital stays resulting in cost reduction and increase business opportunities to healthcare providers, with better financial effectiveness. Jonathan Linkous, CEO of the ATA holds the view that “this will put providers in the driver’s seat when it comes to choosing the best way to deliver healthcare and whether or not to use telemedicine.” 

Dealing with Concerns:

Despite all-around optimism, widespread use of telemedicine is still a far-fetched dream. There are concerns about Tele-health innovation. HIPAA security, safety of patient data and changes in payment procedures are major issues that need to be addressed. Another area is interoperability of electronic medical records.  Unless medical records become fully interoperable healthcare providers will be sitting on volumes of patient data and this will restrain the growth in remote patient monitoring technology into the future. In a way, the future of Tele-health depends on physician acceptance, and it appears today’s physicians want to be convinced that their efforts bring in positive results before making any acceptance. 

However, what is to be remembered is that a Tele-health policy is not the answer for everything. It is a useful tool aimed at rendering quality services to both the healthcare provider and the healthcare consumer at minimum cost. Acceptance of the concept would much depend on the changes in reimbursement policy, taxation rules and better education to healthcare consumers.