Virtual Care: Transforming the Way We See Our Providers

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Posted By: Roberta Mullin March 27, 2019

In this monthly series we are seeking out the transforming technology of Virtual Care. How does virtual care fit into what we know as telemedicine?  What are the newest innovations and products in virtual care? For telemedicine policy and reimbursement issues, read our regular reporting on Telehealth on RCM Answers.

Hashtags to follow for updates on virtual care:

To Listen:

HIMSS19 Highlights
On this highlight interview, Joel Barthelemy, CEO of GlobalMed (@GlobalMed_USA) discusses the trajectory of virtual care over the past decade and how virtual care is becoming more ubiquitous, and therefore, saving more lives while reducing healthcare costs.

On this highlight interview, Dr. Dean Smith, CMIO of GlobalMed talks about how telehealth is changing the healthcare landscape and why, as both a cost-saver and life-saver, telehealth is finally a leading topic of conversation at HIMSS.

Industry News:

Mayo Clinic Collaborates with GIBLIB to Broaden Medical Education Accessibility Worldwide
GIBLIB (@theGIBLIBapp), the streaming media platform offering the largest library of on-demand medical lectures and surgical videos in 4K and 360-degree virtual reality, announced a formal collaboration with Mayo Clinic (@MayoClinic) to digitize and host legacy educational videos and produce new content on the GIBLIB platform for all medical specialties. GIBLIB will bring Mayo Clinic’s medical conference lectures online to medical professionals globally. This relationship will set a new standard for video content engagement and the availability of medical knowledge all around the world.

AbleTo Acquires Joyable to Further Increase Access to High-Quality Behavioral Health Care
AbleTo, Inc. (@AbleTo_Health), a provider of virtual behavioral health care proven to improve clinical outcomes and lower health care costs, announced that it has acquired Joyable, an app-based digital therapy innovator. The acquisition strengthens AbleTo’s high-quality virtual behavioral health care with a digital platform that delivers clinically-based therapies supported by coaches to help individuals overcome depression, generalized anxiety, and social anxiety.

Urgent Care for Kids Launches First Statewide Virtual Pediatric Telemedicine Service
On-demand virtual pediatric doctor visits are now available statewide through Virtual Care for Kids®, the first service of its kind in Texas made possible by Urgent Care for Kids (@Urgentcarekids). Patients can now opt to connect via video chat with a Texas-based pediatrician. This new service now makes quality pediatric care available to any and all of Texas’ more than 3 millions children ages 0 to 21. According to a Georgetown University Center for Children and Families 2017 study, approximately 835,000 of those children are uninsured.

To Read:

Zipnosis
HIMSS19: A Sunny Outlook for Virtual Care – Recently, myself and some of our Zipnosis team had the privilege of attending HIMSS19 in Orlando, FL. Due to the rapid changes in today’s current healthcare climate, this year’s event had a strong focus on innovative ways to improve the patient experience, monitor the patient journey and drive synergy across the industry. In the face of change, the brightest minds convened on ways to generate new efficiencies while improving levels of convenience, safety and accessibility across the healthcare continuum.

Synzi
How Virtual Care Can Address the Gap in Wound Care Specialists – Chronic wounds are a common problem in elderly patients and they require frequent, regular monitoring to maximize wound healing. Once a patient develops a wound, healing can be complicated by many comorbid conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. According to a study published in Wound Management and Prevention, approximately 5 million chronically ill patients have wounds; the aggregate cost of their care has been documented at more than $20 billion annually.

How Nursing Theory Can be Validated by Virtual Care – Nursing theory is defined “as a conceptualization of some aspect of nursing reality communicated for the purpose of describing phenomena, explaining relationship between phenomena, predicting consequences, or prescribing nursing care” by Afaf I. Meleis, PhD, DrPS(hon), FAAN, LL, former Dean of Penn Nursing. Nursing theory is critical to improving the nursing practice by positively influencing the health and quality of life of patients, as noted in the Journal of Nursing Research and Practice. Usama Saleh, RN, BSN, MSN, PhD, states that “the relationship between theory and practice is reciprocal; practice is the basis for the development of nursing theory whereas nursing theory must be validated in practice.”

Understanding Patient Expectations for Home Health and Virtual Care – Generally, patients prefer home health care options as they would prefer to recover at home instead of in a hospital bed or busy healthcare setting as the home setting is more comfortable for one’s well-being and convenient for being able to return to one’s day-to-day schedule. Leveraging patients’ preferences for the care setting is beneficial.

GlobalMed
HIMSS19: Virtual Care Simplified – GlobalMed recently headed to the annual pilgrimage for healthcare IT innovators: the HIMSS conference in Orlando, Florida. As one of more than 1,300 exhibitors in the Orange County Convention Center, our booth stayed very busy with attendees who wanted to learn more about virtual care technology. We were also a featured partner in the Microsoft booth where we showcased our Transportable Exam Station and eNcounter®, our virtual care software platform, now available in the HITRUST-certified and highly secure Microsoft Azure environment. HIMSS is all about new innovations that can improve healthcare, and booth visitors were intrigued by the potential of telemedicine to improve patient care on a global scale.

Several interesting articles on Virtual Care have been posted on GlobalMed, click on the links below to check them out.

Upcoming Events:

The American Telemedicine Association Events
ATA is a non-profit association based in Washington DC with a membership network of more than 10,000 industry leaders and healthcare professionals. We are a leading telehealth association helping to transform healthcare by improving the quality, equity and affordability of healthcare throughout the world. Find their next event.

Defining the industry according to the AAPF

Telemedicine is the practice of medicine using technology to deliver care at a distance. It occurs using a telecommunications infrastructure between a patient (at an originating or spoke site) and a physician or other practitioner licensed to practice medicine (at a distant or hub site).

Telehealth refers to a broad collection of electronic and telecommunications technologies that support health care delivery and services from distant locations. Telehealth technologies support virtual medical, health, and education services.

Virtual Care is a patient service model for healthcare providers.