Since the start of 2020, the U.S. (and the world) has witnessed a drastic boom in the use of telehealth due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, the market saw a 64.3% increase in demand in 2020. However, health care in the home-based setting actually has a much longer history and telemedicine has been around for decades in clinical settings.
As we take a deeper look at the promise of telemedicine and telehealth, it is time to redefine what digital can do to support people experiencing health and/or mental health challenges.
History of Telehealth
Telehealth dates as far back as 1879, with a Lancet publication talking about using the telephone to reduce unnecessary office visits. Since then, telehealth has been used in some shape or form for many healthcare-related services. Dermatology and psychology are two of the biggest areas for telemedicine. Other important uses for telehealth include people who live in rural settings and people who experience chronic disease. In fact, Telehealth has evolved so much that healthcare providers can track biometrics, including blood pressure and blood glucose, for patients with chronic conditions.
Since the 1990s, studies have shown high rates of agreement between diagnoses made in person and diagnoses made via teledermatology. The challenge in the past came down to the use of technology and preferences for home-based telehealth. These days, both these areas are becoming less of a challenge as technology advances and people become more comfortable using their own devices – especially after experiencing a pandemic.
How To Define Telehealth Today
While these terms tend to be used interchangeably, telehealth and telemedicine give patients access to primary care. Telemental health and tele-behavioral health are commonly used to describe mental health services. Telemedicine can happen through many different modalities, according to the CDC. Here are a few of the most common:
- Synchronous: Real-time telephonic or audio-visual communication. This is typically done via a smartphone, computer, or tablet.
- Asynchronous: Patient portal technology in which messages get delivered from one device to another, initially passing through a message center. Also known as Store-and-Forward, the message can get a response at any time.
- Remote patient tracking: The transmission of a patient’s clinical measurements to their healthcare provider.
Types of Telehealth Services
Teleradiology
Teleradiology, the use of direct digital capture to allow images to be read overnight in other states or countries, has been used for at least 60 years. By the late 1990s, studies showed that teleradiology reduced transports for head injuries out of rural areas and that the availability of teleconsultation with a radiologist significantly affected diagnosis and treatment plans.
Telepathology
The digitization of pathology slides become very large files, which require the ability to view color images under different magnifications. Studies have shown the value of telepathology including one study that noted a specialist pathologist via telemedicine was better than a staff pathologist on site.
Telepharmacology
Pharmacy has been practiced over distance for a long time. Telepharmacy is facilitated by computerized physician order entry, remote review, and even remote dispensing. Combining that with video, being able to review medications, and conducting a video consultation with a patient allows the whole pharmacy visit to occur over a distance.
Telebehavioral Health
Telebehavioral health has many names but it basically comes down to teletherapy and telepsychiatry services. Teletherapy services are delivered by behavioral health specialists, counselors, school psychologists, clinical social workers, and mental health clinicians who receive additional training to become certified telebehavioral health professionals. Telepsychiatry services refer to the virtual interaction between a psychiatrist and their patient.
Where Telehealth Needs More Support
A 2018 survey showed that while primary care physicians aim to give high-quality care, 85% admitted they were not able to address all of a patient’s clinical concerns and 66% said they couldn’t address behavioral and social concerns.
By embracing a digital health management strategy, organizations can bring together resources and education, find health insights, and get access to their support system on their own time.
Health insurance companies have a chance to take advantage of this moment and extend the access to virtual health to help more lives. Future health plans can use digital health platforms with a wide variety of capabilities to focus on addressing the gaps in healthcare access, costs, and coverage.
With the proper digital health management platform, health plans can offer their members HIPAA-compliant mobile messaging and incentives for preventive treatment. By meeting members where they’re at, patients and healthcare providers are more likely to commit to a plan, track symptoms, promote and engage in healthier behaviors, or ask/respond to questions about healthcare benefits.
The Future
Telehealth holds tremendous value as it can boost access, relieve the burden on the healthcare system, relieve costs, and improve patient satisfaction and quality of life. The pandemic accelerated the use of and confidence in telehealth technology.
While there is some speculation that this technology was only a temporary essential to relieving the crisis, healthcare consumers expressed the opposite: 83% of patients said they would use telemedicine even after the pandemic comes to an end.
We can only try and predict how this rapidly advancing technology will evolve in the months and years that follow. However, we do know that health insurance leaders have the opportunity to reimagine how virtual healthcare can improve the lives and health of so many people.
Telehealth technology is here to stay, which will expand access to care and reduce barriers for so many families. We are grateful that telehealth is here to stay. It is up to us to continue to use it to confidentially help those in need. Here at Telement, our mission is to use safe technology to connect therapists and students in real-time to solve real struggles. Click to learn more about our teletherapy services in the mental health community.
