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:
From Healthcare de Jure, host Matt Fisher (@Matt_R_Fisher) chats with Dr. Dean Smith, CMIO, GlobalMed discussing implementation and use of telemedicine including how increase remote access; how State Department experience influenced views and provided insights into systems across world.
Industry News:
WellCare and AbleTo Partner to Bring Virtual Behavioral Healthcare to Medicare Advantage Members in New York
WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (@WellCare_Health) and AbleTo (@AbleTo_Health), a leading provider of virtual behavioral healthcare, announced the launch of a new program to serve WellCare’s Medicare Advantage members in New York.
Capital BlueCross Launches “My Cap BlueCross” for Voice Enabled Devices
Continuing its mission to provide convenient and innovative solutions to access healthcare services, Capital BlueCross (@capbluecross) announced the launch of “My Cap BlueCross,” a voice enabled healthcare educational skill for Amazon Alexa or Google Home devices.
MinuteClinic Launches Virtual Visit Offering in 8 Additional States
CVS Health (@CVSHealth) announced that MinuteClinic, the company’s retail medical clinic, has rolled out its virtual visit offering in eight additional states. People with minor illnesses and injuries, skin conditions and other wellness needs can now seek care through MinuteClinic Video Visits, a telehealth offering, in the states of Arkansas, Connecticut, Hawaii, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. MinuteClinic Video Visits provide patients with access to care 24 hours a day, seven days a week from their mobile device or computer.
GE Healthcare Selects InTouch Health to Provide Virtual Communication Capabilities for its Virtual Care Solution: Mural
InTouch Health (@InTouchHealth), ranked 2019 Best in KLAS for Virtual Care Platforms, and GE Healthcare (@GEHealthcare) announced an agreement to embed InTouch Health’s virtual communication capabilities within Mural, GE Healthcare’s recently launched virtual care solution. Mural supports various virtual care models by aggregating, synchronizing and displaying application data from multiple sources across care areas.
HNC Virtual Solutions’ Web-Based Radiology Application Enables Physicians to Share DICOM Images
HNC Virtual Solutions, a software telemedicine solutions company, has created a unique web-based radiology application that can be used on any device, anywhere. HNC Virtual Solutions’ new, web-based radiology application enables doctors to view, edit, and share DICOM images from a number of different modalities through any platform (Windows, Android, iOS) without the need to install any software.
To Read:
Synzi
Minimizing Appointment No-Show’s and Maximizing Staff Productivity – The need to reduce patient no-show rates in home health is critical to optimizing patient outcomes and staff productivity. A patient missing an appointment affects his/her health while impacting an agency’s bottom line. Prior to each at-home visit, a home health agency may perform many administrative tasks including insurance verification, appointment scheduling, and assigning available staff.
Engaging Patients Pre- and Post-Op with Video and Messaging – Communicating with your patients pre- and post-surgery can be beneficial to preparing your patients for successful outcomes. By using Synzi’s platform to conduct video-based consults/visits and launch messaging programs, home health agencies can help patients minimize unnecessary trips to the hospital, the time involved driving and waiting for appointments, and the number of work days missed for medical reasons.
How Virtual Care Helps Home Health Agencies with TeleTriage – Teletriage provides patients access to skilled empathetic and effective HHA services especially afterhours during the week and on weekend. Effective teletriage leverages available agency services and resources while supporting the reduction of avoidable hospitalizations. Using virtual care technology to assist in your agency’s teletriage processes can help your clinicians minimize patients’ visits to the Emergency Department and rehospitalizations.
GlobalMed
Several more interesting articles on Virtual Care have been posted on GlobalMed, click on the links below to check them out.
- Telemedicine vs. In-Person Visits: Which is Higher Quality?
- Making Telemedicine Affordable for Every Budget
- 6 Ways to Improve Medicaid Reimbursement with Telemedicine
- Telemedicine and the Consumerization of Healthcare
- What Will Healthcare Look Like in 2050?
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.