There are a number of ways for hospitals to implement telemedicine programs. Many systems are beginning to dabble with the technology to determine what works best for them and their patient population, but a new survey suggests that many executives — 38 percent — would prefer a rolling out a telehealth option that could be built out of their existing EHR.
Here are six additional findings from Avizia's "Closing the Telehealth Gap" report.
- Of respondents, 63 percent say their organization uses telehealth.
- Of hospitals, 72 percent or healthy systems say they use telehealth. That number drops to 52 percent for physician groups and clinics, and 36 percent for other types of providers.
- The primary practice areas where telehealth is used are stroke, behavioral health, staff training and primary care.
- Telehealth is predominantly delivered today via computers or workstations on wheels, telemedicine carts, specialized peripherals such as cameras, and apps. In the future this will expand to telemedicine platforms built out of EHRs and FDA-approved biometric monitoring devices, according to respondents.
- The larger a state's population, the less likely a provider is to offer telemedicine, which may be because those providers are less impacted by physician shortages.
- The driving reasons for telemedicine adoption are consumer demand, improved clinical outcomes and meeting the goal of delivering value-based care, according to respondents. These are followed by increased patient engagement, expanding service lines and reaching new populations.
- The primary barriers to telehealth are infrastructure investment, reimbursement concerns and clinician resistance. Additional respondent-reported barriers are workflow design, credentialing, ongoing maintenance and support.