Expanding Access Via Telehealth

Healthcare Policy: Article Review

One of the positives to emerge from the pandemic is that it expanded awareness of the possibilities of digital healthcare to provide critical care delivery. Many providers shifted to digital care to reduce the risk of disease, according to Subramanyam (2022), but there must be substantial policy shifts on the part of organizations to make this a reality. As well as meeting medical providers through telehealth meetings, there is also the possibility of artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor patient’s vital signs, as well as providers offering virtual psychological therapy as well as a physical diagnosis (Subramanyam, 2022). A favorable IT policy environment, according to the author, also means training people and facilitating patient information-sharing.

On the government policy level, there needs to be uniform policies in terms of how data is stored and recorded, to maximize the value of telehealth and digital sharing, as well as to protect patient privacy. The goal is to integrate data systems, aggregate the data, and then to analyze it to not only provide care but to generate insights to facilitate future, better care for patients (Subramanyam, 2022). But there must likewise be increased controls to reduce fears about data piracy, given a number of many highly publicized data breaches of healthcare information. The evolution of data speed in the form of 5G will also substantially facilitate acceptance and integration, but also the widespread accessibility of data online, increasing the risk of piracy as well as overall comfort by patients using online tools to manage their health and other private information (Subramanyam, 2022). Ideally, policy makers, academics, private entities, and the public sector will collaborate to enhance patient safety, comfort, and ease of use (Subramanyam, 2022).

The article makes a persuasive case that telehealth is likely to be the wave of the future, and an important answer to concerns that individuals who are in remote and rural areas will not have access to providers. Even the once-concerning digital divide, or the lack of access to digital technology by lower income groups, is apt to be less concerning as more and more people have access to smartphones. On the other hand, the fact that many rural areas of the country still do not have reliable broadband access and there are security concerns about using public connections underlines the need to address IT issues to improve public health, if people rely more upon telehealth.

Reimbursement of physicians for telehealth consultation is also essential. Even if there is extensive patient and provider training in how to securely use telehealth in a manner to better facilitate accurate patient diagnosis and effective treatment, and IT infrastructure is adequate, public and private insurance entities must adequately reimburse these services at the same rate as other forms of consultation. For example, even if it is more convenient for the patient to meet a physician for a mental health consultation virtually, the psychologist will not agree to this unless he or she can be assured of comparable reimbursement from the patient’s insurance. Patients in underserved areas without easy access to providers will not be able to fully use the potential of telehealth unless insurance covers consultations and providers are willing to use telehealth.

Virtual feedback, such as tracking patient heartrate and glucose monitoring can likewise be useful to offer more information for providers when making decisions. Even so, although it can be effective, for many types of conditions and examinations, telehealth and virtual medicine is not a replacement for a hands-on relationship between provider and patient. Getting a sense of a patient’s mental state and the warmth and rapport of a personal relationship still has facets that cannot always be adequately replaced on a screen.