Journal of Climate Change and Health: Patient transport greenhouse gas emissions from outpatient care at an integrated health care system in the Northwestern United States, 2015–2020 (August 2021) – A retrospective review of outpatient care at a health system serving over 600,000 members found that from 2015 to 2020, total outpatient and telehealth visits increased, [...]
National Library of Medicine: Telehealth was Beneficial during COVID-19 for Older Americans: A Qualitative Study with Physicians – Interviews with physician from September to November 2020 identified five major telehealth themes: (1) telehealth uptake was rapid and iterative, (2) telehealth improved the safety of medical care, (3) use cases were specialty-specific (for geriatricians and primary care [...]
A year ago, McKinsey estimated that up to $250 billion of US healthcare spend could potentially be shifted to virtual or virtually enabled care. McKinsey has updated their research to assess implications for telehealth and virtual health more broadly going forward. Findings include the following insights: Telehealth utilization has stabilized at levels 38X higher than [...]
Early in the pandemic, the dramatic decline in outpatient visits raised concerns about diabetes care management. New research shows that telehealth visits and mail-order pharmacies are likely to thank for the minimal disruption witnessed in diabetes care. Results There were 1 357 029 and 1 364 522 adults with diabetes in the 2019 and [...]
Immediate and Sustained Trends in Glycemic Control during Remote Patient Monitoring in People with Type 2 Diabetes. A study investigated whether people with type 2 diabetes (PWT2D) demonstrate improved glycemia after enrolling in remote patient monitoring (RPM) pilot programs that incorporated remote data syncing and coaching. Glycemic improvements were seen within 3 months of [...]
The Commonwealth Fund: States’ Actions to Expand Telemedicine Access During COVID-19 and Future Policy Considerations Abstract Issue: To encourage greater use of telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic, states took action to enhance private insurance coverage of telemedicine. As temporary orders and voluntary insurer efforts end, policymakers are considering how best to regulate telemedicine post-pandemic. Goal: To [...]
Telemedicine Effective at Care Retention Among Rural Patients Living With HIV Researchers have found that when put up against traditional, or face-to-face (F2F), care, telemedicine (TM) produced comparable results among persons living with HIV in rural Georgia, thereby presenting itself as a potential way to increase access to specialty HIV care for these individuals. Findings were recently [...]
A new report by Trilliant Health breaks down telehealth utilization rates and patient attitudes around receiving care in the home. Their findings were based on over 70 billion medical claims data representing 309 million patients across all 50 states, including private insurance and Medicare claims. They found that 80 percent of consumers say they would [...]
Encore Healthcare announced results from their new oxygen and nebulizer management Nexus TeleRespiratory Care model. Encore has used its over 20 million data points from chronic respiratory failure patients on home ventilation to build a predictive model that allows Home Medical Equipment (HME) providers to identify when patients need services before they end up in [...]
Maturing Virtual Care In Tribal Communities Philips Healthcare and the eHealth Initiative and Foundation (eHI) released a report which addresses the digital health challenges faced by tribal communities, including existing data gaps, funding sources, and the digital divide. Although some 60-70 percent of health care services in tribal communities are telehealth visits, significant connectivity challenges exist in rural areas [...]