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:
Conversations on Health Care
Conversations on Health Care airs weekdays at 1 am, 9 am, and 5 pm ET. In this episode, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Iyah Romm, CEO of Cityblock Health, a venture with Alphabet’s Sidewalk Labs aimed at improving care and outcomes for underserved populations in urban areas by deploying tech-based solutions supporting patients and care teams. He talks about Cityblock’s development of digital and telehealth tools that enable real time monitoring of patient data, and a network of interventions addressing social determinants of health.
Industry News:
HLTH Partners with ATA to Highlight Telehealth Solutions and Accelerate Adoption of Virtual Care
HLTH (@HLTHEVENT), the largest and most important conference for health innovation, announced a new partnership with ATA, the premier organization working to accelerate the adoption of telehealth, to showcase the innovations in virtual care that are changing the way care is delivered.
Clarivate Analytics launches Cortellis Digital Health Intelligence, a first-of-its-kind solution covering the global digital health ecosystem
Clarivate Analytics plc (@clarivate), a global leader in providing trusted insights and analytics to accelerate the pace of innovation, expanded its industry-leading life science intelligence offerings with the launch of Cortellis Digital Health Intelligence™. This new, first-of-its-kind solution will help drug, device and technology developers navigate the dynamic digital health landscape with intelligence focused on virtual, consumer-centric solutions (including both hardware and software) that enable health management or patient care in real-life settings.
Sage Growth Partners Brings on its Fifth Client in the Virtual Care Space
Sage Growth Partners (SGP) (@SGPHealth), a Baltimore-based healthcare research, strategy, and marketing firm, announced that it has been engaged by Forefront Telecare. SGP will provide research and strategy services to advance and accelerate Forefront’s growth initiatives, bringing essential behavioral care to rural markets where there is a shortage of medical specialists.
Infobip and GoMo Health Partner to Provide Maternal and Child Health Remote Care Coordination Solution
Infobip (@Infobip), a global cloud communications company for businesses, announces its partnership with GoMo Health (@gomohealth), an international population health management company that specializes in virtual care coordination in multiple therapeutic areas including maternal child health. GoMo Health Personal Concierge tele-health programs include interactive mobile messaging, surveying and assessments for prenatal and postpartum women and children up to age 8 resulting in a significant reduction in pre-term births, reduced adverse events, costs, ED visits, and an increase in families and patients being more engaged in their own care.
Leading Prenatal App Babyscripts Announces Partnership with Axia Women’s Health
Babyscripts (@Babyscripts), the leading virtual care platform for managing obstetrics, announced that they are entering into a partnership with Axia Women’s Health (@axiawh), the nation’s largest independent, physician-led women’s health network, with nearly 300 providers and more than 115 health centers across New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The partnership provides pregnant patients who receive care at Axia access to the Babyscripts app during the entirety of their prenatal journey and beyond.
To Read:
1st Healthcare Compliance
Get to Know Andrew Wilson, Author of eBook “Telemedicine: A Primer” – Our latest eBook, Telemedicine: A Primer author Andrew Wilson is a healthcare attorney and legislative specialist at Morris James LLP. Drew assists clinicians and their practices with licensing, business formation and expansion, and regulatory compliance. He is a nationally recognized speaker on telehealth, spearheading Delaware’s groundbreaking telehealth legislation.
Synzi
How A Virtual Care Platform Can Coach Alzheimer’s and Dementia Caregivers – The Alzheimer’s Association reports that over 16 million family members and friends provide 18.5 billion hours of unpaid care to people with Alzheimer’s and other dementias. 86 percent of these unpaid caregivers have provided care for at least the past year whereas half have been providing care for four or more years.
Closing Gaps in Care with Virtual Care Technology – Gaps in care can refer to disparities in healthcare access, healthcare needs and medical services when comparing different populations across racial, ethnic, and/or socioeconomic factors. The goal in closing care gaps is to minimize inequality and expand access to quality care for all. To close these gaps, health insurance companies are increasing turning to home health agencies to better enlighten and empower patients through condition management programs and wellness interventions.
Connecting with the Caregivers – The estimated prevalence of caring for an adult is 16.6% (39.8 million) Americans, according to the National Alliance for Caregiving. Caregivers’ responsibilities can include traditional ADLs and IADLs as well as coordinating care and communicated with a range of providers, agencies, and professionals on their care recipients’ behalf. Nearly 6 in 10 (57%) caregivers assist with medical/nursing tasks such as injections, tube feedings, catheter and colostomy care, and other complex care responsibilities; however, almost half (42%) of caregivers are doing these medical/nursing tasks without any skills training.
GlobalMed
Several more interesting articles on Virtual Care have been posted on GlobalMed, click on the links below to check them out.
- Understanding Telemedicine Reimbursement
- Bringing Telemedicine to the Microsoft’s Digital Transformation Showcase
- Telemedicine vs. In-Person Visits: Which is Higher Quality?
- Making Telemedicine Affordable for Every Budget
- 6 Ways to Improve Medicaid Reimbursement with Telemedicine
Upcoming Events:
Telehealth: An RX for the Consumer Experience
Hosted by: American Telemedicine Association in conjunction with HLTH 2019 Create Health’s Future Event
When: October 27, 2019 9:00am – 12:00 pm
Registration information
Telehealth solutions include digital health, artificial intelligence (AI), virtual care, remote monitoring, and digital therapeutics (DTx), as well as ‘store-and-forward’ or asynchronous technologies that securely transmit data collected from wearables, sensors and other devices to help inform clinicians’ decisions throughout diagnosis and treatment. DTx, in particular, applies Telehealth technologies, alone or in combination with conventional drug therapies, to treat chronic conditions, change behaviors and reduce health care costs.
What are the trends, opportunities, technology-based interventions, and virtual tools and programs that hospitals, healthcare providers and life sciences companies are adopting to successfully leverage Telehealth digital health solutions?
Join ATA to explore how Telehealth and the emerging field of DTx are increasingly changing the way health care is delivered. Hear from Telehealth and digital therapeutics innovators and thought leaders, who will share insights into the most promising solutions and services that are enabling direct-to-consumer virtual care, remote monitoring and disease management practices, and deliver personalized medicine in real-time.
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.