Telehealth means using digital technology to give medical care from a distance. This includes video visits, watching patients remotely, sending electronic prescriptions, and other digital health services. According to the American Telemedicine Association (ATA), telehealth aims to deliver safe, affordable, and suitable care while reaching more people.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth grew fast because hospitals and clinics wanted to keep giving medical care without risking patient and staff safety. This change made healthcare systems rethink how they offer clinical care, training, managing workers, and patient access. Many academic health systems, through groups like the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), added telehealth training to medical education. This helps future doctors and nurses learn how to care for patients using telehealth tools.
Research is very important for improving healthcare, including telehealth. It has several main roles:
The American Telemedicine Association offers tools to help remove health differences through telehealth. These tools include surveys of digital setups and calculators to measure social value, helping providers see where telehealth can help most.
Several important groups focus on telehealth research and support in the United States. Each helps advance telehealth in different ways.
These groups work together to study telehealth’s quality, fairness, challenges, and policy effects. Their work gives a strong science base for states, health systems, and clinics to use effective telehealth methods.
Research shows telehealth improves access, especially for people in rural and underserved areas. AAMC’s Project CORE, which works with more than 55 health systems, shows that eConsult services help primary care doctors and specialists communicate better. This means patients wait less, miss fewer appointments, and get smoother care. By studying these methods, clinics can add systems that make referrals and follow-ups easier.
AAMC created telehealth skill lists for clinicians at all education levels. These lists show the skills needed to give safe and effective telehealth care. For clinic managers, including these skills in training helps providers get ready and keep care standards high.
Rules like HIPAA need telehealth systems to be secure and follow laws. Research on good ways to check patient identity helps clinics stay within rules and lower fraud risk. Telehealth must keep changing to meet new rules, which often come from research and policy work.
Keeping telehealth strong after the emergency phase of the pandemic is a challenge. AAMC and Vizient studied telehealth for primary care fields like internal medicine, family medicine, and geriatrics. They found it is important to understand what makes providers and patients use telehealth, how it affects care quality, and ways to improve telehealth workflows.
Clinic leaders can use these findings to keep telehealth balanced. This means picking the right telehealth services, investing in helpful technology, and training teams to deliver good virtual care.
Digital gaps still affect telehealth use, especially among low-income and underserved groups. Many telehealth studies look at these challenges, including poor internet access, lack of digital skills, and cultural or language differences.
Groups like AAMC support telehealth solutions that fit local community needs. Their Telehealth Equity Catalyst Awards fund academic health centers to help close these gaps. Clinic managers can use this research to make telehealth easier for more patients and follow equity policies.
Research in AI and automation helps make telehealth work better for healthcare providers. AI can handle routine tasks, lower administrative work, and improve patient experience. This is helpful for busy clinics.
AI tools can automate tasks like scheduling appointments, answering calls, and patient triage. This lowers phone wait times, cuts missed calls, and raises patient satisfaction. For example, Simbo AI offers systems that use AI for phone answering. Clinic managers who add this automation let staff focus more on medical tasks, making patient intake smoother.
AI remote patient monitoring (RPM) programs look at health data live and alert providers to important changes, helping with timely care. ATA supports growing remote patient monitoring, which helps manage chronic diseases and cuts hospital readmissions.
Research from ATA shows AI helps improve access to digital therapy by organizing pharmacy work and boosting patient involvement. For example, CaryHealth’s AI system lowers delays in prescribing and managing digital therapy, helping patients start and keep treatment easier.
Checking patient identity well is key for telehealth to meet federal rules like HIPAA. AI can verify identities in real time during telehealth visits, lowering fraud risk and ensuring the right patient is treated. This replaces slow manual checks and improves security.
Research groups and government agencies offer many funding chances to support telehealth work. The Office for the Advancement of Telehealth gives over $38 million yearly to communities in grants for expanding telehealth access. These programs help build telehealth technology, offer technical help, and improve services for underserved groups.
Healthcare managers can apply for this funding to improve telehealth tools, train staff, and reach more patients. Joining programs by groups like OAT also gives access to expert technical help and resources on telehealth best practices.
Healthcare managers and IT staff need to stay updated about telehealth research and new ideas. Events like the ATA Insights Summit and the National Telehealth Conference give chances to learn about new technology, policy, and clinical uses.
Being part of networks like AAMC’s Digital Health and AI Collaborative lets health systems share experience and develop good plans. These meetings show evidence-based practices and new research that clinics can use to improve care delivery and patient results.
By using research-based methods, healthcare providers in the United States can use telehealth better. Studies and projects from known organizations offer clear ways for medical administrators, owners, and IT managers to improve care quality, make access fairer, and adopt tech like AI for better workflows. Keeping a focus on research will help telehealth shape a stronger and easier-to-use healthcare system.
The ATA is dedicated to promoting telehealth as a means to provide safe, affordable, and appropriate care, enhancing the healthcare system’s ability to serve more people effectively.
The ATA provides a toolkit aimed at addressing health disparities via telehealth, including maps and calculators to assess digital infrastructure and social value.
Research is crucial for advancing knowledge and innovation, enabling the expansion of quality care through technology-enabled initiatives.
The ATA sent a letter supporting expanded remote patient monitoring access in Colorado, advocating for improved healthcare delivery.
The ATA has initiated programs and webinars focused on accelerating the adoption of digital therapeutics, emphasizing the integration of AI to enhance patient experiences.
Verifying patient identities efficiently is vital to ensure compliance with regulations like HIPAA and prevent fraud, which challenges traditional manual methods.
The ATA launched the Virtual FoodCare Coalition to integrate nutrition into healthcare, enhancing patient wellness through telehealth platforms.
The ATA aims to provide education and resources to seamlessly integrate virtual care into value-based delivery models, ensuring effective healthcare practices.
The ATA works with a diverse range of entities, including healthcare delivery systems, academic institutions, technology providers, and payers to promote telehealth.
The ATA organizes events like the ATA Insights Summit and policy conferences to address technology adoption, regulatory updates, and digital therapeutic reimbursement.
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