Technology helps get doctors to the scene after-hours
If
But it's another matter when a patient gets sick after hours or on weekends and holidays, when doctors and nurse practitioners are trying to enjoy their time off like everyone else.
Falls
Here's how it works:
When a nurse notices that
As the nurse gets the cart in place, the doctor reviews
The doctor begins the exam, asking
The doctor can zoom in with the camera for a closer look at
"The nurse really becomes the instrument for the physicians, they become the hands," said
PREVENTING A SLIDE
Falls Run launched the telemedicine feature in December and has used the service--which isn't billed to the patient--16 times since then. In most of the situations, the patient had the same issues as the imaginary
"It's a patient-changing condition, it's not going to resolve on its own, it's going to need some kind of intervention," he said.
TripleCare has been using its telemedicine service since 2011, and currently operates in 15 states, said
Of that number, "about half would have gone to the emergency room without our intervention," Gorman added.
Time is of the essence in these kinds of cases, she said.
"When you're a frail elderly person, waiting a couple days just gets you worse and worse and worse, and often you do end up in a hospital," Gorman said. "So by having this early intervention, early change of condition, [there's the] opportunity to get the patient before they start the slide in the wrong direction."
FINANCIAL BENEFITS
There's also the financial impact.
In a recent study, TripleCare looked at 91 cases in which patients didn't have to be hospitalized, which resulted in an estimated
*
*
*
In 2011, the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program, under the Affordable Care Act, started imposing penalties every time Medicare recipients returned to hospitals within 30 days of being discharged. The notion was, patients could get the necessary treatments at facilities, or at home, instead of them automatically being transported to the hospital, where everything is more expensive.
Readmissions cost the nation
Three years after the penalties started, Medicare spent
Skilled nursing facilities currently aren't penalized for re-admissions, but Medicare is scheduled to change that next year. More of these centers are using telemedicine to fill in the gaps when medical officials aren't available, "thus avoiding getting dinged by Medicare in the process," according to a story on VSee, an online telemedicine platform.
A TECHNOLOGY BOOM
More than half of all hospitals use this technology in some fashion, according to the
Rural facilities, such as
Likewise, skilled nursing facilities can turn to telemedicine for patients who may need psychological evaluation but aren't able to get to a provider in their area.
"During a stroke, time is brain--2,000 brain cells may die every minute," states the hospital website about Oscar.
Novant Health U.Va.
When a patient enters the emergency room with stroke symptoms, the
And parents can pick up their phones in the middle of the night and have a video chat with a doctor when the baby's got an unusual rash--as seen in a current TV commercial.
Telemedicine is expected to boom in the years to come. Worldwide revenue for telehealth devices and services could reach
Likewise, it predicts the number of patients using telehealth services will rise to 7 million this year, up from less than 350,000 five years ago.
In
Get the headlines newsletter in your inbox each day with the top stories.
htmlCancelSubscribe
___
(c)2018 The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, Va.)
Visit The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, Va.) at www.fredericksburg.com/flshome
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Business Notebook: 2/18
Hogan endorses EPA’s role in Chesapeake Bay cleanup; Gov. asks Senate leaders ; to remove amendment ; in House spending bill
Advisor News
Annuity News
Health/Employee Benefits News
Life Insurance News