The Delivery of Healthcare Services: Telecommunication Technology - Essay Example

TELECOMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY AND THE DELIVERY OF HEALTH SERVICES Telemedicine Definition Telemedicine can be formerly defined as the use of medical information exchanged from one site to another via electronic communications to improve a patient’s clinical health status (The American Telemedicine Association). Telemedicine encompasses a constantly widening variety of services and applications making use of wireless tools, email, two-way video, smart phones and many other forms of advancement in technology. Approximately forty years ago, telemedicine started with the demonstrations of various hospitals extending the care offered to their patients in the remote areas. It is now widespread and is being integrated into the operations of hospitals, home health agencies, specialty departments, private physician offices and patient’s workplaces and homes (Blobel st al, 2008). It should be made clear that telemedicine is not a separate and independent medical specialty. The goods and services offered through telemedicine are most of the time part of a larger and higher investment by the medical institution. This investment is either on the delivery of clinical care or information technology. In fact during reimbursement, there is never a clear distinction specified between the services provided by telemedicine and those provided on site. The fee structure does not reflect a separate coding and billing for the remote services (Lewis, 2005). The terms telehealth and telemedicine can be used interchangeably as they as mean the same concept. Telemedicine encompasses the following services; Still images transmission Video conferencing as a method of patient consultation Patient portals as a form of e-health Monitoring vital signs remotely Continual medical education Wireless applications that are consumer-focused Nursing call centers Sometimes the term telehealth is used to refer to a wider description of remote health care which does not necessarily involve medical and clinical services. However, The American Telemedicine Association uses the two terms in a similar manner a person would refer to health or medicine in the local vernacular. There is a close relationship between telemedicine and health information technology (HIT). However, there is a slight difference; HIT more often than not refers to e-medical records and accompanying information systems. On the other hand, telemedicine is the actual offering of remote medical and clinical services by the use of technology. Services offered by Telemedicine 1. Specialist referral and primary care services; this involves a healthcare professional providing consultation with a patient to assist in diagnosis. There is always a live interactive video. 2. Monitoring of patients remotely; Involves the use of devices to collect patient data remotely then send them to a remote diagnostic testing facility (RDTF) or a home health agency for interpretation. Such services assist the visiting nurses. 3. Medical and health information; Entails the use of wireless devices and wireless networks to access information and join on-line peer discussion groups. 4. Medical education; provides a platform where health professionals access continuing and updated medical knowledge. Benefits of Telemedicine The recent rapid growth in telemedicine can be attributed to four major fundamental benefits; improved access, cost efficiencies, improved quality and patient demand. In terms of improved access, telemedicine does not only improve patient’s access to medical services, but also gives health facilities and physicians to broaden their reach, far and beyond their offices. This is more so because of the shortage of health providers and physicians, both in the urban and rural areas. Through telecommunication they can now serve many patients within a very short time. Health services are always accompanied by cost. Telemedicine has proven to be very cost effective. This is in terms of; reduced travel times, shorter hospital stays, sharing of professional staffing and better chronic diseases’ management. Telemedicine improves the quality of health services offered. The services are as good as the tradition consultations carried out in the offices, in-person. In ICU care and mental health, telemedicine outshines the traditional methods. It delivers a superior product. There are greater outcomes accompanied with sufficient patient satisfaction (Armstrong, 1998). The greatest and most important impact of telemedicine is experienced by the patient, their community and family. Stress that comes with travel is avoided by using telemedicine. They can access medical and clinical services that are as good as those in the hospital at the comfort of their home and family. Barriers to Telemedicine Adoption Despite the numerous benefits of telemedicine, there are four major barriers that hinder the complete adoption of the system. These factors are; legal/ regulatory, financial, technical and cultural factors. Legal/Regulatory; this is the top barrier to telemedicine adoption in the health system. Medicaid and Medicare rules are known to be the principal source of opposition to the adoption of telemedicine. Most people believe that the present rules and regulations dictating when, where and how the clinical services are funded and reimbursed, need to be reformed immediately. A belief is held by many that the rules are still in place because of the fear of over exploitation. There is need for new and innovative ways to meet the needs of the ever expanding aging population (Lewis, 2005). Telemedicine is a perfect remedy for this challenge and should therefore be incorporated into the health guidelines. Most people believe that the biggest huddle to adoption of telemedicine is reimbursement. They think that the moment the doctors are assured of compensation by both private and public payers for online conferencing, they will adopt the system with little resistance, if any (Hatzakis, 2003). This statement is true to some extent but according to American Well CEO Roy Schoenberg, the biggest factor holding back telemedicine is definitely not reimbursement. Rather it is the lack of knowledge and information about telemedicine and the benefits it carries along with it. “We’re still at that state where government isn’t informed of what the potential is and how to drive this thing forward,” Schoenberg said during a panel at the American Telemedicine Association‘s annual conference. As a matter of fact, Senator Dianne Feinstein introduced a bill in the senate that would crack down online pharmacies. The problem that arose from this bill was that the language went too far and would have resulted in the elimination of telemedicine (Lewis, 2005). Websites to access for information about Diabetes Diabetes is a major global problem affecting millions of people around the world. After diagnosis of the condition, patient education is usually carried out to help the patients manage their condition well. The information obtained from such sessions is never sufficient. As a result, there is need for more information that the patients can access easily. Such people also need to be assured that they are never alone in their diabetic states. Because of these and many other reasons, there is need for websites which provide such information. Three of such websites include; American Diabetic Association Diabetes Australia International Diabetes Federation Patients can get information about; the correct procedure for insulin injection, how to recognize the symptoms of hypoglycemia, Maintenance of correct body weights and the current medication regimen for diabetes. Criteria for a Reputable Health Website 1. Accuracy; should have a strong medical research backing, reliable references, correct grammar and bibliographies. 2. Authority; the author must have valid credentials. 3. Bias/ Objectivity; the information provided must provide facts from all angles and perspectives. 4. Currency/Timelines; the information therein must be dated. 5. Coverage; the site should provide complete information about a subject. If possible, provide additional sources of information for further reading. Personal Health Records Personal health records can help patients to manage their care more efficiently. Some of the benefits of personal health records include; improvement of patient engagement, combination and coordination of information from several providers, ensures the patient information is always available, reduction of administrative cost, enhancement of patient-provider information and encourages family health management (Lin, 1999). Some of the barriers to adoption of this system are; high cost of maintenance, design shortcomings and challenges in sharing information between different organizations. An impenetrable firewall should be installed to ensure safety of the patient information. This will protect such information from potential hackers (Armstrong, 1998). References Armstrong, M. L. (1998). Telecommunications for health professionals: Providing successful distance education and telehealth. New York, NY: Springer Pub. Co. Bennett, A. M., Rappaport, W. H., Skinner, F. L., National Center for Health Services Research, & Mitre Corporation. (1978). Telehealth handbook: A guide to telecommunications technology for rural health care. Hyattsville, MD: U.S. Dept. of Health, Education, and Welfare, Public Health Service, National Center for Health Services Research. Blobel, B., Pharow, P., & Nerlich, M. (2008). EHealth: Combining health telematics, telemedicine, biomedical engineering, and bioinformatics to the edge : global experts summit textbook. Amsterdam: IOS Press. Hatzakis, M., Haselkorn, J., Williams, R., Turner, A., & Nichol, P. (2003). Telemedicine and the delivery of health services to veterans with multiple sclerosis. Istepanian, R. S., Laxminarayan, S., & Pattichis, C. S. (2006). M-health: Emerging mobile health systems. New York, NY: Springer. Lewis, D. (2005). Consumer health informatics: Informing consumers and improving health care. New York, NY: Springer. Lin, J. C. (1999). Applying telecommunication technology to health-care delivery. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine. doi:10.1109/51.775486 Read More