Physician viewpoint: 5 changes we need to make in telehealth to bring it into the future

Telehealth can bridge the gap between rural residents and quality care and make preventive care more accessible to busy patients. However, major changes must be made to ensure telehealth is equitable, affordable and accessible to everyone, according to an April 26 op-ed in the Boston Globe.

Shantandu Nundy, MD, is a primary care provider and the chief medical officer of Plymouth Meeting, Pa.-based Accolade, a healthcare technology and benefits firm that offers a virtual care clinic of its own.

He gave five suggestions for bridging the gap between telehealth and underserved communities:

1. Invest in inclusivity.
   There is widespread evidence that telehealth has left behind older adults, individuals living in poverty, along with rural and minority communities. Without conscious efforts aimed at improving telehealth for underserved communities, the risk of exacerbating inequalities increases because of the digital divide already in place.
   
   
2. Create standards and measure outcomes for telehealth.
   Types of telehealth services vary and should not be compensated equally.  Telehealth should be compensated based on methods that measure patient-reported outcomes and experiences, such as trust.
   
   
3. Ensure the quality is equal to in-person visits.
   If telehealth is going to be compensated like in-person care, it needs to deliver the same results. There is concern that private companies entering the telehealth sector don't adhere to the same standards traditional clinics do. Many lack quality control and comprehensive EHR keeping, which can pose additional security and privacy risks.
   
   
4. Make more tests available at-home.
   Just like patients can take at-home pregnancy tests, they should be able to test for diabetes, colon cancer and high-blood pressure. Nurses and healthcare professionals should also be deployable to the home when needed.
   
   
5. Reimagine how care really works for patients.
   Digitizing a broken experience will not improve healthcare. Instead, utilizing partnerships — like that of Boston-based Massachusetts General Hospital and AstraZeneca to digitally enable care for asthma and heart failure — as well as advocacy from physicians, patients and policy makers is needed.