When you are talking about one of the largest organizations in the country, it might sound incongruous to talk about a personalized approach. But Dr. Neil Evans, co-director of Connected Health at the department of Veterans Affairs, stressed that for payers and providers interested in telecare adoption, the best route is through their nurses and physicians as opposed to, say, a payer. It was part of a conversation sharing insights on telehealth adoption at the Connected Health Symposium in Boston this week.
“Healthcare is a relationship based on trust, particularly the relationship veterans have with their providers,” Evans said. “What we really find is…when patients are invited to participate in telehealth by their personal provider, it increases adoption tremendously and patients are far more likely to enroll in the platform.”
He added that making it convenient for patients and physicians is critical, particularly connecting it to electronic health records. “We need to make it simple to reduce barriers to entry and most importantly to the providers. We can’t have connected health as a separate system from the electronic health record– it needs to be integrated.”
Evans noted that so far, 2.5 million veterans had enrolled in the VA’s patient portal My HealtheVet. It provides users access to their health data such as lab tests, vital signs, prescription medication, and access to doctors’ notes on their progress. It also provides secure messaging.
Panelists shared some of the initiatives to expand telehealth at their organizations. American Well CEO Aaron Schoenberg said patient adoption of virtual visits grew 100 times when it introduced its mobile app. Mercy Health is in the midst of constructing a $200 million telehealth center in St Louis.
Other panel participants shared their insights too. Dr. Martin Silverstein, the chief strategy officer for WellPoint, also supported integrating telehealth and EHRs and added, “The power of telehealth will increase exponentially when can be put in the context of [patients’] environment,” particularly in their home.
But as great an idea as members of the healthcare industry may think patients and doctors being able to reach each other through text messaging, email and telemedicine may be, reimbursement issues continue to stymie wider adoption. Patients’ comfort level with the technology also is a factor. Employers starting to offer telehealth as part of their health plans find limited use.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Silverstein said it will take time to gain acceptance much like drugstore clinics from CVS, Walgreens and others. Word of mouth and ensuring that services at these clinics were covered by their health plans has made a difference.
[Photo from Big Stock Photo]
