News
19/08/2021
For stroke patients, receiving treatment as soon as possible is vital. The shorter time between the stroke and treatment, the less chance there is of serious damage to the patient’s brain. That’s why fast diagnosis of a stroke is so important for the patient’s overall prognosis. But vascular neurologists, the clinicians most called upon to check stroke patients, are often in short supply and high demand. As a result, they cannot always see every suspected stroke patient as quickly as perhaps liked. The answer has been to utilise telemedicine and this is something neurologists have been doing for more than three decades. By taking advantage of audio-visual platforms, neurologists can assess suspected stroke patients quickly. If the patient is displaying signs of a stroke, they can be given life-saving treatment, consisting of administering tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), a clot-dissolving drug first developed for treating heart attacks, which was then fine-tuned for strokes in the early 1990s. The success of tPA, however, lies in administering it as quickly as possible, to counter the effect of blood loss to the brain. A 2016 study highlights the impact of telehealth for stroke patients. According to Kaiser Permanente’s study, involving more than 2,500 patients treated for stroke symptoms between 2013 and 2015 in its 14-hospital network in southern California, a 75% increase was witnessed in the timely use of tPA after a telehealth consult. Patients receiving a telehealth consult were given a diagnostic imaging test 12 minutes sooner than those who didn’t, and tPA was administered 11 minutes sooner. Overall, the door-to-needle time was reduced to less than an hour. *Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
10/08/2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly accelerated digital transformation across the entire healthcare industry. That’s one of the key findings from new Google Cloud research. According to the survey of 300 US physicians, nine in 10 (90%) currently use telehealth (vs. just 32% pre-pandemic). Moreover, more than half (62%) of physicians said the pandemic forced their healthcare organization to make tech upgrades that would normally have taken several years to implement. Just under half (48%) of physicians said they would like to have access to telehealth capabilities in the next five years. However, most physicians agreed that the healthcare industry lacks behind others when it comes to digital adoption. Indeed, 64% of physicians said digital adoption was more advanced in the gaming industry, while 56% and 53%, respectively, said the telecommunications industry and financial services industry were more digitally advanced. Nevertheless, the healthcare industry’s digital adoption has improved, closing the gap on the retail, hospitality and travel, and public sectors. Google Cloud CEO, Thomas Kurian, said during a recent HIMSS21 Global Conference Digital Session: “The more efficient you can make the healthcare system, the more that healthcare system can invest back in patient care, new forms of treatment, new forms of drug discovery, et cetera.” *Image by Tumisu from Pixabay
22/06/2021
Telemedicine, also known as telehealth, is something many people have experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is something that has really come into its own, helping patients connect with their clinicians at a time when just leaving the house presented a challenge. Now, another form of virtual healthcare, teledentistry, is emerging as another potential disruptor in the healthcare space. Predicted to witness spectacular growth of 16.6% from 2020-2027 to reach US$ 920.83million in 2027 from US$ 242.51million in 2019, the European teledentistry market looks set to achieve spectacular results. But it’s not just in Europe where teledentistry is taking off. According to a report in the Tyler Morning Telegraph, Texas Governor Greg Abbott recently signed a bill into law formally ending a ban on teledentistry in the state. The new law comes months after a lawsuit was filed by the Pacific Legal Foundation and after bipartisan calls for reform were made. Under the new law, the Texas State Board of Dental Examiners will not be allowed to ban teledentistry, bringing it in line with other telemedicine practices. Abbott previously signed a bill into law expanding and making some telemedicine services permanent. “This is great news for Texas citizens who will continue to have access to quality dental care from the comfort of their homes,” Joshua Polk, an attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation, said. The foundation represented teledentistry providers who challenged the Texas Board of Dental Examiners’ ban. “There is a crisis in dental care access in Texas, and this legislation will go a long way in addressing that crisis,” he added. “It will also allow our clients to continue operations in the state.” *Image by Rafael Juárez from Pixabay
03/06/2021
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has published an update in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine stating that, during the pandemic, telemedicine has been an effective tool for the diagnosis and management of sleep disorders. Since the academy’s last update in 2015, the use of telemedicine services has increased exponentially as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The academy’s latest update adds that the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted telemedicine’s ‘importance in improving access to sleep care and advocating for sleep health.’ Furthermore, a growing body of published research has found telemedicine to be effective in the management of patients with sleep disorders, such as apnea, and for the delivery of cognitive behavioral therapy for the treatment of insomnia. The update authors also outlined how a shortage of trained behavioral sleep therapists has led to the development of online application-based CBT-I programs and a recent systematic review and meta-analysis found that internet-delivered CBT-I is effective in improving sleep. Telemedicine, the academy says, is also effective for helping to treat sleep disorders among children: ‘Telehealth follow-up visits, primarily via telephone, have been used for chronic management of obstructive sleep apnea and internet delivered CBT-I has been shown to be effective in adolescents with insomnia.’ *Image by Claudio_Scott from Pixabay
27/05/2021
Prior to the Covid-10 pandemic, medical tourism was one of the fastest-growing industries in the world. Indeed, according to Grand View Research, the global medical tourism market size was valued at US$44.8 billion in 2019, with compound annual growth of 21.1% expected between 2020 and 2027. However, the global SARS-CoV-2 outbreak has significantly impacted travel abroad. Luckily, we are seeing signs that things are slowly returning to normal. [Related reading: France to offer free Covid-19 tests to tourists this summer] Now, something that has come into its own during the coronavirus pandemic is telehealth. In fact, data shows usage of telehealth services has increased by more than 2,000% since 2019. But what’s going to happen to telehealth services once “normal” travel resumes? We believe they’ll still play a pivotal role, particularly when it comes to complementing medical tourism. With telehealth, patients can have consultations with specialists on the other side of the world, negating the need to travel in the first instance. If the patient and clinician agree that travel for surgery or other healthcare is necessary, telehealth can continue to afford benefits, including: - Improve the quality and efficiency of customer service by helping to coordinate care between providers in the patient’s home country and the medical tourism destination - Enhance pre-operative and post-operative care - Optimize patient and family member travel. If you’d like to find out more about our telehealth services and/or how we can help you get any medical treatment you need in France, get in touch today. *Image courtesy of mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
11/05/2021
Telemedicine will save the healthcare industry a staggering $21 billion in costs by 2025, new research suggests. This represents an increase of over 80% in the next four years, rising from $11 billion in 2021. According to the study by Juniper Research, teleconsultations, a service that enables patients and physicians to interact remotely with patients, will play a key role in enabling these significant savings. However, Juniper cautioned that such savings would be restricted to developed countries where people have access to required devices and suitable Internet connectivity. Indeed, Juniper predicts that North America and Europe will realise over 80% of savings by 2025. The Jupiter report also reveals how telemedicine usage has soared as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, with remote consultations rising from over 280 million in 2019, to 348 million in 2020. By taking advantage of telehealth solutions, doctor’s offices have been able to significantly reduce the number of face-to-face appointments they’ve needed to accommodate, cutting the risk of waiting room Covid-19 infections. However, the report did warn that the significant investment required and obligation to abide by data protection laws, such as the US’s Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), could discourage telemedicine adoption among smaller healthcare providers. “Any deregulation must ensure that patient confidentiality is not undermined,” said research author Adam Wears. “Additionally, we recommend that innovative and emerging teleconsultation services are integrated into existing healthcare technologies, such as electronic health records, to maximise their benefits to healthcare providers.” Jupiter Research’s report, Telemedicine: Emerging Technologies, Regional Readiness & Market Forecasts 2021‑2025, is available here: https://www.juniperresearch.com/researchstore/key-vertical-markets/telemedicine-research-report *Image by Tumisu from Pixabay
27/04/2021
During the coronavirus pandemic, eligible Australians have been accessing Medicare-subsidised telehealth services. However, this arrangement is due to end on June 30. But it now looks like there will be an extension until at least the end of the year. Australian Health Minister, Greg Hunt, has said the government will extend Medicare-subsidised telehealth services until the end of the year, while the government works with peak bodies to design a post-pandemic telehealth system going forward “Over the last 12 months, telehealth services have been life-changing for many in need of support,” Mr Hunt said. “The extension will ensure that Australians can continue to see their GP, renew scripts and seek mental health support from the safety of their own home. This allows vulnerable Australians to feel protected and supported during these unprecedented times.” The Australian Government rapidly rolled out telehealth subsidies back in March 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic became apparent to enable citizens to continue to access GP, mental health and allied health services even during lockdowns. Over the course of the year to the end of March, more than 54 million Medicare-subsidised telehealth services were delivered to 13.5 million patients. The cost of the six-month extension will be detailed in the Australian federal budget on May 11, 2021. *Image: Sydney Opera House, courtesy of Patty Jansen from Pixabay
15/04/2021
As we highlighted in a previous blog post, telehealth/telemedicine services have come into their own during the Covid-19 pandemic, allowing patients to connect with their clinicians in a way that’s fast, convenient and safe. However, remote consultations often have their limitations, including how to perform diagnostic tests and take medical measurements. But now researchers from the University of Washington have devised a way to measure patients' pulse and breathing rates via a smartphone's camera. The researchers say the advancement will make telehealth more accurate and useful. According to UW News, the system, called MetaPhys, can detect a patient’s pulse or respiration rate using in real-time using video of their face. "Machine learning is pretty good at classifying images. If you give it a series of photos of cats and then tell it to find cats in other images, it can do it," Xin Liu, the study's lead author and a student in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering doctoral student, told UW News. "But for machine learning to be helpful in remote health sensing, we need a system that can identify the region of interest in a video that holds the strongest source of physiological information — pulse, for example — and then measure that over time." The team's original iteration of MetaPhys was presented last December at the Neural Information Processing Systems conference. However, the first iteration had some pitfalls, most notably that it struggled with certain lights, backgrounds and skin colors. The second version, the researchers say, improves upon the first and overcomes these limitations. *Image courtesy of tookapic from Pixabay
13/04/2021
Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, telehealth/telemedicine services were more of a convenience than a necessity for most patients. They offered (and still do offer) a way for a patient to consult with their clinician without having to make a trip to the doctor’s office. But it was when the Covid-19 pandemic struck that telehealth really came into its own, with more patients than ever taking advantage of such services to receive non-emergency healthcare from the safety of their own homes. Now, new research from Sykes reveals that most consumers – having experienced telehealth services during the pandemic -- want them to remain post-Covid. According to the Sykes survey, which polled 2,000 Americans in March on how their opinions on virtual care have changed within the past year, more than 61% had undergone a telehealth visit come March this year. In comparison, less than 20% had utilized telehealth by March 2020. Furthermore, in March 2020, around 65% of Americans felt hesitant or doubtful about the quality of telehealth services, while 56% did not believe they could afford the same level of care compared to in-person appointments. However, now, almost 88% want to continue using telehealth for non-urgent consultations after the COVID-19 pandemic has ended. Moreover, almost 80% agree it's possible to receive quality care via telehealth services. *Image by Tumisu from Pixabay
31/03/2021
Telehealth services have really come into their own during the coronavirus pandemic, offering a way for patients and clinicians to have consultations without the need for a face-to-face meeting. Now, a group of inventors at the University of Cincinnati (UC) want to take telehealth consultations to another level by facilitating them to be performed via drone. The technology aims to fill the gap in telehealth delivery among those who do not own or have access to the devices, such as smartphones, computers and internet connectivity, that are required for telehealth consultations. Inventors Victoria Wangia-Anderson, Manish Kumar, Seung-Yeon Lee and Debi Sampsel from three colleges at UC collaborated to develop a semi-autonomous prototype that can be dispatched right to people’s homes. The drones are capable of carrying certain medical equipment and supplies, but remain agile enough to navigate the tight spaces found in homes. A variety of health assessments can be conducted using the telehealth drones, including taking temperatures and measuring oxygen levels. The drone kits also include patient-friendly devices, and the clinician will be able to instruct patients on how to use them. Patients who require assistance can also seek help from family or other caregivers during the drone sessions. Speaking about the telehealth drones, Debi Sampsel, director of telehealth at UC’s College of Nursing, said: “We can perform all kinds of functions: chronic disease management, post-operative care monitoring, health coaching and consultations,” she said. “And in the health care arena, there is no age limit. Telehealth services are useful from birth to death.” Find out more via the University of Cincinnati website. *Image courtesy of Joseph Fuqua II/UC Creative + Brand for the University of Cincinnati
25/02/2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused telehealth to become a bigger economic development concern among local areas. That’s one of the key findings of new research by broadband industry analyst Craig Settles. According to Settles’ Broadband, Local Economies, & the Age of Covid survey -- which polled 200 professionals from economic development departments within local and state governments and economic development agencies across the United States – 40% of respondents indicated that telehealth can have a “measurable impact” on their local economy in terms of attracting medical professionals and reducing unnecessary ER visits. When the same survey was conducted two years ago (in 2019), only about 25% of respondents said the same about telehealth’s potential impact on the medical workforce and ER visits. Moreover, more respondents this year said telehealth can help more mental health services remain local, as well as keep senior citizens living at home longer. Settles says these findings suggest there is money to be made and saved by boosting telehealth capabilities. Specifically, he sees a lot of potential value in local telehealth radiology programs, citing the $1.8 million saved over 10 years by a radiology practice in Chattanooga, Tennessee. “There are serious dollars and cents to be had if you can do this locally, because people don’t have to go all the way to China to get their X-rays, all the various MRIs and so forth,” Settles said. “The forward-thinking communities, especially if they’re a rural area, I would look at starting a radiology practice because there’s money to be made there locally. Obviously, you can’t do this without broadband, but if you’re one of these cities building the network, that should be a main consideration for revenue.”
04/02/2021
Texas Governor, Greg Abbott, has said he wants to permanently expand access to telemedicine services across the state, noting that they benefit both patients and doctors. Speaking during his State of the State address on Monday, Gov. Abbott said: “We should seize the opportunity this session to permanently expand telemedicine so that every Texan in every region of the state can benefit.” Telemedicine services in Texas have surged since the start of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. But if Gov. Abbott wants to maintain telemedicine access and coverage in Texas beyond the pandemic, he will need the help of the Texas Legislature, Congress, and private insurance providers. Last March, Gov. Abbott eased regulations regarding the types of health care services that can be offered over the phone or through video calls. He also issued an emergency rule so that the Texas Dept. of Insurance (TDI) could compensate healthcare providers for telemedicine consultations at the same rate as in-person visits. However, this equalized compensation only applied to patients covered by state-regulated insurance plans, like those purchased through HealthCare.gov, which make up only 15% of plans in Texas, according to TDI. Gov. Abbott also highlighted how critical telemedicine services have been in enabling Texans to get needed health services this past year.
02/02/2021
Against expectations, France has resisted imposing a nationwide lockdown, choosing to introduce new Covid-19 border restrictions instead. Under the new restrictions, all non-essential travel from outside the EU has been banned and testing requirements for travellers from within the EU have been tightened. French Prime Minister Jean Castex said France's night curfew would also be more tightly enforced and large shopping centres would close. It had been expected that French President Emmanuel Macron would impose a third national lockdown to contain Covid-19. However, the French premiere opted to tighten existing restrictions on travel and shopping instead. The move sees France following a different path than its two biggest neighbours Britain and Germany, at a time when the more contagious UK variant of the disease is spreading rapidly across Europe. [Related reading: Moderna says its vaccine will work against new COVID variants] "Everything suggests that a new wave could occur because of the variant, but perhaps we can avoid it thanks to the measures that we decided early and that the French people are respecting," Health Minister Olivier Veran told the Journal du Dimanche (JDD) newspaper on Sunday. Despite the news of tighter border restrictions, France Surgery’s proprietary telehealth platforms remain open and accessible to all of our international clients, one of the main benefits of remote healthcare.
10/12/2020
Telehealth solutions have come into their own during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Indeed, adoption of telehealth services has increased by more than 2,000% since last year. With both physicians and patients alike reaping benefits from telehealth solutions, it’s inevitable that some ambulatory care and services will never return to being face-to-face. However, as solutions mature and become more readily adopted, healthcare providers need to realize that a one-size-fits-all approach to telehealth will not afford the best outcomes for patients. Before implementing any telehealth services at all, healthcare providers need to understand: - Who their consumers are? - Where do these consumers live? - What Internet access do they have? - And what is their level of technological literacy? These four considerations are key in helping healthcare providers develop telehealth solutions that are both intuitive and meet their patients’ varying needs. Failure to address these four considerations could lead to telehealth solutions simply not being utilized. Here at France Surgery, we pride ourselves on the transformational telehealth services we provide. It’s our goal to provide our patients with access to SMART healthcare wherever they are and whenever they need it. We understand that what works for one patient won’t necessarily work for another, which is why we never look to take a one-size-fits-all approach.
26/11/2020
It is estimated that a child is born every 3 minutes with a cleft lip, cleft palate or both worldwide — about one in 500-750 births. Usually, with surgery, a child born with a cleft can have a new, beautiful smile and live a normal life. However, the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has meant that affected babies are having even greater difficulty in getting their much-needed cleft treatment. Fortunately, cleft charities are continuing their work by taking advantage of telehealth solutions. One such charity is Smile Train, whose Philippine arm has continued providing ongoing comprehensive cleft care including nutrition, speech therapy and psychological support to patients, despite temporarily postponing surgeries. “This year was a different year because of the Covid pandemic. The last three or four months we saw a drop in the number of cases in many hospital nationwide. Some stopped doing operations. But Smile Train is not just about surgery. What we strive to do is to be able to provide cleft comprehensive care to those who need it whether be it counseling, guidance in terms of how do you breastfeed baby with a cleft or after surgery, what does the child still need, among others,” said Kimmy Coseteng-Flaviano, Country Director of Smile Train Philippines, during a virtual media conference. Flaviano said the charity is also providing psychosocial support to older patients via telehealth, to help boost their self-confidence. Since parents of cleft babies aren’t able to visit clinics resulting to unanswered questions, Smile Train is trying to support them through virtual consultations with their partner surgeons or doctors, or through Facebook Live discussions.
19/11/2020
A researcher from the University of Southern California (USC) Medical Center in Los Angeles says telemedicine had a positive impact on inner city children with asthma at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. According to Kenny Kwong, MD, making the switch to telemedicine for routine asthma visits early on in the pandemic resulted in positive disease control and an increase in appointment "show rates" among Los Angeles inner city children. Prior to taking advantage of telemedicine, in-person appointment show rates between March and June 2019 averaged 70%-80%. After the switch to telemedicine, this increased to 90%-95% between March and June 2020. Furthermore, delivering routine asthma care via telemedicine did not appear to negatively impact asthma control among the children in the study, Wong said in a presentation at the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology virtual meeting. There was also a notable increase in the amount of time healthcare providers spent with patients after switching to telemedicine, with appointments conducted over the telephone lasting as much as 62% longer than pre-pandemic in-person visits. “This system has worked very well. We have been able to treat many asthmatic children until the debacle of COVID-19. All our face-to-face visits on the mobile asthma units came to a grinding halt, and we had to switch almost overnight to telephone visits,” Wong said.
12/11/2020
The impact of the global Covid-19 pandemic has been monumental. But for physicians, nurses and other healthcare practitioners, it’s been particularly difficult. In addition to carrying out their already demanding day jobs, these individuals have had the added stress of coping with social distancing and a surge in patient numbers. It is, therefore, no wonder that a significant proportion of NHS staff in England are concerned about burnout. While it’s not often considered when talking about the benefits of telehealth, such solutions can actually help reduce the risk of physician burnout. Here’s how: - Telehealth helps improve physician work-life balance - Telehealth makes for more optimized schedules - Telehealth reduces the need to commute - Telehealth can help improve physician-patient relationships - Telehealth helps address healthcare coverage gaps, meaning physicians don’t after to overstretch themselves - Telehealth solutions allow physicians more time to look after themselves Healthcare provider burnout is a serious issue. If the very people whose jobs it is to look after us fall ill themselves, how will it bode for the rest of us? You can find out more about the telehealth services provided by us here at France Surgery by contacting us today.
05/11/2020
Telehealth is probably not the first thing you think of when talking about ways of assessing possible stroke patients in an emergency. But Norther Ireland has just approved exactly such a system, highlighting the traction that telehealth solutions are garnering today. The solution, provided by Health Services Limited (HSL), enables clinicians and patients to have video consultations, with the ultimate goal being to make a diagnosis. Patients still need to visit an A&E department, but when they do the emergency clinicians who receive them can use the telehealth solution to get expert treatment advice remotely from stroke consultants. The solution can be used on tablets, smartphones and laptops, making it different to other virtual stroke assessment tools in the market that rely on external systems to function, the company claims. It has everything built-in that a stroke consultant needs to make an initial diagnosis of the stroke patient. The app also has the functionality to save the patient’s results in their electronic care record. [Related reading: The benefits of electronic health records] Perhaps the biggest benefit of the telehealth solution is that it enables stroke consultants to assess a patient’s condition as soon as possible and relay timely, potentially life-saving advice to their emergency room counterparts. The stroke assessment telehealth solution is already in place in hospitals across Northern Ireland the United Kingdom.
03/11/2020
The wider adoption of telemedicine has been one of the most prominent changes to come out of the Covid-19 pandemic. Indeed, data shows that usage of telehealth services has increased by more than 2,000% since last year. Now, new research shows that the vast majority of gastroenterologists are planning to use telehealth more going forward. According to the survey presented at the annual American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) 2020 conference, up to 91% of gastroenterologist respondents say they plan to integrate telehealth into their practice following the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the survey revealed that gastroenterologists typically view telehealth in a positive light, with 75% of survey respondents reporting their experience of telehealth solutions has been positive. Only 6% reported a negative experience. As many as 63% of gastroenterologists also said they felt telehealth was more efficient than traditional visits, while 58% considered adding telehealth visits between endoscopic procedures. In terms of barriers to telehealth adoption, the biggest for gastroenterologists was the inability to conduct a physical exam, cited by 44.1%. For 27% of gastroenterologist respondents, this barrier was considered critical. Around two-thirds of respondents said their adoption of telehealth solutions would depend on whether the medium would be covered by appropriate insurance payments (equal to in-person consultations). You can find out more about the telehealth services provided by us here at France Surgery by contacting us today.
27/10/2020
Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of patients utilizing telehealth solutions has increased significantly. But with telehealth set to remain a mainstay of healthcare going forward, it begs the questions of what are the pros and cons of telehealth? We’ve listed some of each below to help you make an informed decision. Advantages of telehealth for patients: - Patients can typically get an appointment sooner - Appointments are carried out in the safety of a patient’s home or workplace — saving time and money on gas and parking - Telehealth allows elderly patients and those with reduced mobility, as well as people in rural locations, continued access healthcare services - Telehealth services are designed to be easy to adopt - Recent Medicare rule changes in the United States mean that people in more states are covered and can take advantage of telehealth services as part of their health plans - Telehealth services can often be used via a smartphone - A great way to satisfy post-surgical follow-ups Advantages of telehealth for healthcare providers: - More free time to help the neediest patients - Less overcrowding in doctor’s practices - Easier to implement social distancing guidelines Disadvantages of telehealth: - Not suitable for emergency situations (although tele-ICUs are a thing) - Not suitable for when a clinician needs to physically interact with a patient - Unsuitable for routine vaccinations - Not as intimate as a traditional face-to-face appointment If you’d like to find out more about the telehealth services provided by France Surgery, please get in touch.
22/10/2020
The United States Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has released new data that shows usage of telehealth services has jumped significantly over the past year. According to the figures, more than 34.5 million services were delivered via telehealth in Medicare and in the Children's Health Insurance Program from March through June. This represents an increase of a whopping 2,532% in services delivered via telehealth compared to March through June 2019. Furthermore, the agency also notes that there is always a "claims lag" between the time a service occurs and when the claim is reflected in its database. Taking this into account, the actual number of services delivered via telehealth is likely to be higher than reported. The CMS data reflects the relaxation of federal regulations around virtual care at the start of the pandemic, which caused usage of telehealth services to skyrocket. Speaking about the figures, CMS Administrator Seema Verma said in a statement: "This revolutionary method of improving access to care is transforming healthcare delivery in America." [Related reading: Telehealth in the ER affords better outcomes for both patients and healthcare providers – research]
20/10/2020
We’ve written before about how telehealth has come into its own during the Covid-19 pandemic. Adoption of telehealth has allowed patients with less serious ailments to remain at home and seek advice remotely, freeing up clinicians’ precious time to focus on individuals with more pressing healthcare needs. Now, new research shows that when utilized in an ER setting, telehealth solutions can yield positive results for both patients and providers. According to the research published in the INFORMS journal Information Systems Research, which looked at emergency room visits in New York from 2010 to 2014, increasing wider use of telehealth in the emergency room can reduce both wait times and patient length of stay. When it came to patient length of stay, telehealth had a positive impact because it allowed for more flexible resource allocation, particularly when there is an ER demand surge and/or supply shortage. Furthermore, adoption of telehealth in ERs also reduces patient wait time, a reality that in turn reduces length of stay. This is a particularly important factor because of the common and nagging problem of overcrowding in ERs. With social distancing guidelines still firmly in place, reducing overcrowding in emergency rooms needs to be a top priority for hospitals.
15/10/2020
The US is entering its annual cold and flu season, but this year there’s the added danger of Covid-19 to contend with. Healthcare providers often struggle to meet the needs of their patients at this time of year, mainly because of increased footfall at their facilities. Add to this the strict social distancing guidelines that are in place across the world and the difficulty of the situation becomes clear. The good news is that more and more care providers are turning to telehealth solutions to help alleviate the flu season rush, as well as adhere to social distancing rules. With telehealth, doctors and physicians can carry out consultations with patients without either having to travel. When diagnosing a patient with the flu, physicians look for the two most common symptoms: a cough and fever. At the height of the flu season, almost every patient presenting with these symptoms will have the flu, which often means an in-person consultation is not necessary in the first instance. Care providers can quickly assess a patient’s symptoms via a virtual consultation and arrange to have a prescription sent to them, saving time and money. While every patient’s case is unique, the ability of telehealth to enable physicians to carry out initial consultations for individuals with flu-like symptoms remotely means the facility’s resources are not impacted. This frees up vital appointment slots for those who need them most and reduces wait times, all the while eliminating the chances of someone contracting Covid-19 or spreading flu while out of their house. If you’d like to find out more about the telehealth services provided by France Surgery, please get in touch.
08/10/2020
Cleveland Clinic has unveiled its top 10 medical innovations for 2021, and both telemedicine initiatives and app-connected health trackers feature. In fact, four medtech developments made the Cleveland Clinic list this year, underlining the importance of technology in healthcare. All of them were chosen in the belief they will be widely adopted in the coming year and have a significant clinical impact. Announced in conjunction with its annual Medical Innovation Summit, which is now in its 18th year, Cleveland Clinic’s top 10 innovations for this year were selected by a committee of subject matter experts at the academic medical center. This year, smartphone app-connected pacemakers were named the top medtech innovation because of their ability to better connect patients with their cardiac treatment, affording greater insights into the health data they produce. Bubble CPAP, a non-invasive ventilation strategy for premature babies, is the next medtech innovation on the Cleveland list. Bubble CPAP minimizes physical trauma and stimulates lung growth when administered over a prolonged period. Third on the list of medtech innovations is telemedicine, specifically increased access to these pivotal services through the removal of barriers. The fourth and final medtech innovation on the list is vacuum-induced uterine tamponade, a minimally invasive way for clinicians to stop postpartum hemorrhage (excessive bleeding after having a baby), which affects around one to five percent of women who give birth. The vacuum-induced device uses negative pressure created inside the uterus to collapse the bleeding cavity causing the muscle to close off the vessels. It’s a low-tech solution that could be taken advantage of in developing countries with low resource availability. [Related reading: What is telehealth?]
06/10/2020
The American Society of Anesthesiologists has heard at its annual Anesthesiology 2020 meeting that telehealth technology has been affording positive experiences for patients. Even before the coronavirus outbreak, patients who saw a pain medicine specialist via telehealth saved time and money and were highly satisfied with their experience, according to a study presented at the virtual event. Conducted from August 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020, the study highlights how many chronic pain patients are confident they will receive good care via telehealth, while at the same time benefiting from avoiding lengthy commutes and less time spent in traffic. The results bolster the case for provider adoption of telehealth technology, which has already seen a significant rise in usage as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and patients being cautious about traveling to healthcare facilities for appointments for fear of contracting the virus. [Related reading: Older patients use telehealth almost as much as younger ones, report finds] While patients who are being evaluated for new conditions will likely be better served by an initial face-to-face consultation, follow-ups can occur efficiently once the relationship with the provider has been established. Indeed, the anesthesiologists at the conference predict up to 50% of visits could be conducted remotely.
01/10/2020
We’ve written before about how telehealth has come into its own during the COVID-19 pandemic. Indeed, the coronavirus pandemic has driven the adoption of telehealth services, and it’s not just younger patients that have been taking advantage, according to a new report. Contrary to popular belief, older patients have also been embracing telehealth services, as shown in a recent report by Strata Decision Technology. Based on data collected from 43 health systems, as well as telehealth visit data from the American Medical Association and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the report shows that while telehealth visit utilization was highest for the 30–39 age cohort (27.95%), individuals in their 70s (22.52%), 80s (20.29%), and even 90s (19.04%) have been utilizing telehealth offerings. Jeffrey Gelblum, MD, a practicing neurologist at First Choice Neurology in Aventura, Florida, says telehealth is enabling older patients to access healthcare services they may otherwise have missed out on. “Historically, we had to deal with older folks who may not be able to drive and older folks who would have difficulty finding a parking space. If the weather was bad, some older folks did not want to go to a doctor appointment. Driving for older folks is problematic in terms of compliance. But now with telehealth, that situation has been resolved,” he says. Telehealth also allows older patients to see their physicians more often than if they were having to attend face-to-face appointments.
29/09/2020
The switch to telehealth that many doctors and patients have had to make as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic has been largely positive, new research shows. Furthermore, the majority say some of the changes will be permanent going forward. According to the survey of 500 executives in the healthcare industry, conducted by marketing agency Boston Digital, 57% of respondents said telehealth had increased the quality of patient care. In fact, more than half of those surveyed said their organisation had created new portals or micro-sites in response to the pandemic. Only 8% of respondents said telehealth initiatives were not important to their organisation. Most survey respondents said more than 40% of the changes they had made in the face of the coronavirus pandemic would likely remain permanent. However, the findings of the survey, while positive on the whole, do highlight some challenges that the telehealth industry must overcome. The most prominent challenge, the survey found, was patients’ ability to use new technologies. Speaking to Healthcare IT News, Peter Prodromou, president at Boston Digital, said: “To overcome barriers, including a patient’s ability to understand new programs and associated technology, healthcare providers must implement a seamless user experience and a robust digital marketing strategy that effectively communicates to their diverse patient community.”
25/09/2020
Telehealth has helped patients living with chronic conditions, such as type 1 diabetes, continue their care management throughout the pandemic, new research shows. According to the global survey of patients living with type 1 diabetes, many moved to telehealth because in-person doctor visits were curtailed as a result of COVID lockdown restrictions. But even after the pandemic has passed, three-quarters say they will continue to take advantage of telehealth solutions to meet their care management needs. The information, presented this week at the Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), highlights the value of telehealth platforms in maintaining care management during times of unprecedented disruption to daily life. Furthermore, many patients with chronic conditions will have foregone check-ups throughout the pandemic for fear of becoming infected or adding an extra burden to healthcare providers. Telehealth has a significant role to play hear by helping these individuals re-establish their care routines and get the treatment they require. The study conducted by researchers at the University of Bern in Switzerland and supported by Novo Nordisk, involving more than 7,000 people in 89 countries, is published in in the journal Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism. “The results … demonstrate that a large number of people living with type 1 diabetes have rapidly adopted telemedicine or plan to in the near future and that this has generally been perceived positively,” the researchers concluded in the study.
22/09/2020
In a previous blog — What is telehealth?— we introduced you to telehealth and explained how it has revolutionized healthcare across the world, especially in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. But while telehealth has proven itself as a very worthy asset for enabling rural communities and those who cannot easily travel to access healthcare, what about when a patient is in a more critical condition and requires intensive care? Well, believe it or not, there are actually telehealth-ICU solutions out there for this very purpose. In a nutshell, a tele-ICU enables remote clinicians to interact with bedside staff to consult on a patient’s care. One centralized care team can manage a large number of ICU locations across many different locations to exchange health information in real time. Using a host of technologies, including A/V conferencing and real-time data streams of patient information from multiple sensors and interfaces, a clinician working from a care center hundreds of miles away can effectively and rapidly care for a patient no matter what time of day or night it is. As highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic, anything that minimizes infection risk and the need for PPE, while still allowing clinicians to care for patients is extremely advantageous. While a tele-ICU is a supplement, not a replacement, to the on-site care team, when remote and bedside teams are able to collaborate seamlessly, the partnership elevates bot care and outcomes.
17/09/2020
Telehealth has gone from being a supplementary means of accessing healthcare services to one of the primary ways patients seek treatment, a new report has revealed. According to Doximity's 2020 State of Telemedicine Report, the impact of the coronavirus pandemic has had a profound effect on telehealth, driving its adoption. In fact, the report says that telehealth is expected to account for more than 20% of all medical visits in the United States this year and drive $29 billion worth of healthcare services revenue. The Doximity report also found that as much as $106 billion of current US healthcare spend could be virtualized by 2023. This projection highlights the increasing acceptance and adoption of telehealth among both patients and physicians. The report says there is a likelihood that care providers will find themselves competing to offer the best telemedicine experience. Prior to the pandemic, just 14% of American patients had taken advantage of telehealth services. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, this figure has risen by 57%. For those with a chronic illness the increase was 77%. Nearly a quarter (23%) of respondents said they plan to use telehealth once the pandemic ends, while 27% said they feel more comfortable using telemedicine since the pandemic. You can read the full Doximity report here. [Related reading: Use of telehealth technology among US specialists increased during pandemic]
15/09/2020
Silicon Valley tech giant Nvidia, best known for designing graphics processing units for the gaming and professional markets, is looking to use its experience to benefit the telehealth space. Researchers at the company are working on developing an automated speech recognition and natural language processing technology, which would be able to transcribe and organize information from a telemedicine visit for both patient and clinicians. What separates the tool from other offerings in the market is that it is specifically trained to understand clinical and biomedical language. Nvidia says the new tool will enable patients to leave telehealth visits with a lot more information and notes than they do currently. While the Nvidia tool’s initial focus will be telehealth transcription, the company says its uses could extend to other medical applications. Speaking about the tool, Hoo-Chang Shin, research scientist at NVIDIA, told MobiHealthNews: “This particular one was trained on large biomedical text and then a smaller set of clinical text ... but if we had a large amount of clinical notes like radiologist reports then the language processing trained on them would be kick-ass on recognizing radiologists reports. “It would be so much better at transcribing radiologist reports and also we have even more recognition of named entities or disease names, or possibly planned treatments, and so on.”
08/09/2020
The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has just released the Rural Action Plan, the first HHS-wide assessment of rural healthcare efforts in more than 18 years. The 82-page report comes after President Trump’s executive order in August to improve rural health and telehealth access. It lays out a four-point plan intended to address challenges providing rural healthcare, including building a sustainable HHS model for rural communities; preventing disease and mortality; increasing rural access to care; and using technology and innovation. The latter of these four initiatives includes wider support for telehealth, as well as funding for the development of technological solutions to help with chronic conditions. It also acknowledges that broadband access is a continuing concern for making use of health IT. Specifically, the report highlights a number of projects and directives designed to boost telehealth, including: - Grants, policy and regulatory efforts and research analyses will support rural tech and telehealth innovation initiatives. - A health challenge that uses technology to improve screening and management of postpartum depression for rural women. - HHS will provide more than $8 million in grant funding to boost telehealth expansion. - About $30 million to expand the use of telehealth services to meet the needs of rural and medically underserved areas. - Investment aimed at expanding eligibility to telehealth sites where the provider sees the patient at a distance more healthcare provider types.
03/09/2020
Officials at the Ohio Department of Medicaid are seeking to make expanded telehealth coverage — which was put in place in March to address the coronavirus pandemic — permanent. When the coronavirus pandemic struck, telehealth options for more than three million people living in Ohio were expanded to help cover their healthcare needs. Prior to the expansion, Ohio’s telehealth services saw less than 1,000 claims from providers per month for physical health services, and 4,000 for mental health services. Since the pandemic hit in March, almost 630,000 members have used telehealth, resulting in around 2.6 million claims. Furthermore, more than 200,000 people have sought help via virtual care channels from the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (MHAS), resulting in around 1.28 million claims. A further 1.3 million claims were filed by more than 480,000 Medicaid members using telehealth to access care from providers outside the MHAS network. Following this significant increase in telehealth usage in Ohio, the state’s Department of Medicaid has filed documents petitioning the state to add more healthcare providers to the list of those eligible to bill for telehealth services, expanding the program permanently. “This permanent expansion of clinically appropriate telehealth services allows us to increase access to quality care while maintaining the fiscal sustainability and integrity of Ohio’s Medicaid program,” said Ohio Medicaid Director Maureen Corcoran in a statement.
28/08/2020
Medical specialists, including cardiologists, gastroenterologists, pulmonologists, and respiratory physicians, significantly increased their use of telehealth technology during the COVID-19 pandemic, new research shows. According to the survey by data and analytics company GlobalData, 79% of US medical specialists said their use of telemedicine technology had increased since the start of the coronavirus outbreak. One in five (20%) said their usage had stayed the same. Of the medical professionals who said their use of telehealth services had increased, almost 30% reported an increase of 81% to 100%. Prior to the outbreak, less than half of the medical professionals surveyed were using telehealth services. But their experiences must have been positive, as more than three-quarters said they will continue to take advantage of telehealth once the pandemic is over. Interestingly, while 24% of medical professionals reported that they would not continue to use telehealth technology going forward, most said it was because they needed to see their patients in person to conduct examinations. Speaking about the findings of the survey, Kathryn Whitney, director of thematic analysis at GlobalData, said: “Telemedicine has been critical during the COVID-19 pandemic to limit the risk of person-to-person transmission of the virus and to reduce the burden on overwhelmed healthcare systems.”
26/08/2020
Residents of Milam County, Texas, who saw the only two hospitals in their county close in 2018, will soon be able to take advantage of an unattended telehealth station. The $200,000 OnMed station is part of a $10 million grant from Blue Shield of Texas to A&M University to address the rural area's healthcare needs. With a large touchscreen, thermal camera, weight scale, stethoscope, and handheld camera, the telehealth station is capable of checking several aspects of a patient’s health. Furthermore, with a quick press of the touchscreen, patients are connected to a healthcare professional more than a thousand miles away, at the Tampa headquarters of OnMed. The professional, usually either a nursing assistant or nurse practitioner, is able to talk the patient through undertaking some basic checks, including blood pressure, respiratory readings, and blood oxygen saturation. There is even a dispensary attached to the booth which enables patients to get meds like common antibiotics, blood pressure, and diabetes medication instantly. At the end of each teleconsultation, an ultraviolet sanitizes all of the surfaces and equipment inside the booth ready for the next patient. Residents of Milam County will initially be able to use the telehealth station for two years, after which time a decision will be made on its future. Patients with or without insurance can take advantage of the telehealth station for as little as $45 to $65 per consultation. OnMed is also working with Auburn and Tuskegee with a view to placing stations in rural Alabama. CEO Austin White expects as many as 15 stations to be in operation across the country by the end of the year. *Main image credit: OnMed
20/08/2020
A new survey from a healthcare cybersecurity firm has revealed that telehealth services are being widely accepted as the preferred alternative to face-to-face consultations. However, security remains a top concern. According to the research by CynergisTek, a leading cybersecurity firm in the healthcare space, more than 54% of patients have utilized telehealth services since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Of those people, 73% said they will continue using telehealth services even after the pandemic has subsided. However, the security of such systems is a top concern for many people, with 48% of the 5,000 adult respondents saying they would be unlikely to use virtual care again if their own protected health information was compromised due to a security breach. Interestingly, individuals from different generations view cybersecurity with varying importance. For example, so-called Baby Boomers (generally defined as people born from 1946 to 1964) and The Silent Generation (generally defined as people born from 1925 to 1942) were most likely to abandon telehealth services following a data breach, 62% and 65%, respectively. Nevertheless, most patients s believe that telehealth services can fill pandemic-era gaps for routine care, such as chronic care check-ups (29%) or annual physical and children's wellness exams (27%). Speaking about the findings of the research, Caleb Barlow, president and CEO of CynergisTek, said: “The rapid growth of telehealth has accelerated to a level we wouldn't have expected to see over a 10-year timeframe.”
18/08/2020
Electronic health records, or online medical files as they are also known, are basically electronic versions of patients’ medical records that are securely stored in a bespoke system. While these digital records may never fully replace traditional paper-based versions, they are proving to add lots of value to the healthcare industry. Here are some of the benefits afforded by electronic health records for both patients and medical professionals alike: Electronic health records are accessible from anywhere, meaning any physician in the world can learn your medical history in a short space of time They are constantly up to date, with the latest version always available They make it faster to find information, thus allowing treatment to be expedited They contain fewer errors and there is less chance of misinterpretations because of poor handwriting They are secure from fire, theft or being lost and are also backed up for extra protection They can be accessed by multiple healthcare professionals, reducing the need for paper records to be sent All of the above ultimately improve efficiency, lead to fewer errors and lead to an improved experience for patients and medical professionals. As part of our holistic telemedicine solution, we offer online medical files. Contact us today to find out more about how they can transform your healthcare experience.
13/08/2020
In a previous blog post — what is telehealth? — we wrote about telehealth services and some of the benefits they afford. Today, we are going to follow on from that post by looking at how telehealth has come into its own during the ongoing pandemic. The COVID-19 crisis has meant that millions of people all over the world have had to stay at home, observe social distancing guidelines, and not make any unnecessary trips. But what do you do if you need medical advice or a check-up by your doctor in the middle of a pandemic, with such restrictions in place? Well, according to new research, many seniors are turning to telehealth services so they can keep abreast of their medical needs at this difficult time. In fact, the figures from healthinsurance.com show that overall use of telemedicine services among seniors has increased by a whopping 300% during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, 30% of survey respondents said they have used telehealth services at least once a month since the COVID-19 crisis occurred. The beauty of telehealth services, such as virtual doctor appointments, is that they are all conducted via the Internet or telephone. Therefore, the patient does not even need to leave the comfort of their home to get a medical opinion — a reality that is particularly beneficial for vulnerable seniors. Want to find out more about the various telehealth services France Surgery provides? Contact us today. We’d love to hear from you.
11/08/2020
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, you will have likely heard about ‘telehealth’ and ‘telehealth services’. But what is telehealth and how can telehealth services benefit you? In a nutshell, telehealth is the term used to describe healthcare services provided remotely by video or telephone. So if you spoke with your doctor via the Internet using Skype or a similar tool, you would be taking advantage of telehealth services. Another example of telehealth could be if you used an online patient portal to send your healthcare professional some images or records. The goals of telehealth are numerous, but some of the primary desired outcomes include: To make healthcare accessible to people who live in rural or isolated communities To make healthcare accessible to people who have limited mobility, time or those who do not like venturing out of their houses To provide easier and faster access to medical professionals To help enforce social distancing requirements To allow individuals to self-manage their healthcare needs To enable more intuitive collaboration between healthcare professionals to afford better outcomes for patients Even after the COVID-19 pandemic is over, we can expect telehealth services to remain a core part of healthcare going forward. If you’d like to find out more about the telehealth services provided by France Surgery, please get in touch.