It is not a stretch to say that the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic has redefined what is normal. The virus has forced all industry production to a sputtering production, work from home seems to be the norm in companies that can afford it. Prioritizing safety, governments all across the world have enforced complete lockdowns that have made basic supplies into luxuries. The impact is so dire that the entire healthcare system is struggling to survive and operate during this crisis.
In order to get a handle on this grim situation, Governments and healthcare departments across the country have prioritized the implementation of Telemedicine. The FDA (Food & Drug Administration) and the CDC (Centers for Disease Control & Prevention) have begun a unified effort to promote Telemedicine/Telemedicine and implement telemedicine across all hospitals and clinical facilities. They have encouraged health plans and healthcare systems to inform their members that telemedicine is covered by their insurance.
Just the fact that the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) & Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have relaxed HIPAA regulations during the crisis, to encourage doctors to incorporate telemedicine practices, should tell you the importance of this system. In addition, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have expanded Medicare coverage for telehealth visits and recently, the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) has permitted doctors to waive deductibles & other out-of-pocket expenses associated with telehealth services.
So why is Telemedicine such a hot commodity right now? Why are all the healthcare governing bodies aggressively pushing for it? What exactly does it offer?
Telehealth systems are designed to enable easier healthcare access to patients and allow doctors and patients to connect virtually. This happens to be the precise requirement for patients and their treating physicians during this crisis. Telehealth is the best solution that prioritizes both quality of treatment provided to the patient along with the general safety of all parties involved in that process. That is, through implementing telemedicine doctors can now provide the same quality of care to their patients while protecting themselves and their patients from COVID-19 infection.
Several hospitals & physicians have begun implementing telemedicine as it enables them to: –
Prevent hospital staff and patients from being infected by shutting down walk-ins
The coronavirus is highly communicable. Its rate of infection is so alarming that people have been restricted to their homes as it is the only way to stop the spread of the virus. But, during any health crisis, the first place that everyone approaches are hospitals & clinics. This makes infection treating facilities into teeming grounds for the spread of the virus. In addition, large crowds mean large queues & no one likes to wait in a long queue. Especially during a pandemic, crowds of panicked people being huddled around in one place is a recipe for disaster. By implementing telemedicine, walk-ins can be effectively stopped. Which in turn, makes all of that avoidable. Doctors can connect with their patients appointment wise, and can easily treat or reassure them without having to compromise on safety.
Moreover, those diagnosed with COVID-19 infection or other serious illness can now be easily quarantined and continuously monitored. Additionally, the at-risk populous, the people living in old age homes and other assisted living facilities can now be consciously monitored and treated without them ever having to leave quarantine.
Make COVID-19 tests more accessible
Testing is the only way to find out whether the virus has been treated or how serious the virus has spread. This can significantly aid in the implementation of strategies to control the spread of viruses. Unfortunately, there are not enough testing kits available to test everyone, so now healthcare workers have to prioritize at-risk locations and patients and get them tested in batches, so that the results could be obtained faster.
Enforcing telemedicine allows doctors to monitor multiple patients and quickly identify at-risk locations and they can easily begin effective mass testing. They can easily conduct survey tests by outsourcing to call centers which would help doctors to filter in at risk locations and patients. Additionally, outsourcing has another benefit, call centers can now act as an information source for worried & panicked patients, they can receive important details, like availability of the kits, waiting times etc. more importantly they can spread required information and awareness faster.
Safely treat thousands of mild infections of COVID-19 without risking them into serious infections
COVID-19 is not always deadly, sometimes it stays dormant in a person’s body and uses them as carriers to infect other more at-risk people. This is one of the most contributing factors for the rapid spread of the virus. By implementing telemedicine, doctors can now easily diagnose and treat such patients without them risking serious infection or risking them spreading the infection to others. Telemedicine equips doctors to continuously monitor and treat such patients. As a result, patients feel reassured and comforted and can now easily recover without endangering the doctors or others.
The importance of this system was perhaps best stated by Dr. Lee Schwamm, a Massachusetts General Hospital neurologist, director of MGH’s Center for Telehealth, and vice president of virtual care for Partners HealthCare, “The current crisis makes virtual care solutions like telehealth an indispensable tool as COVID-19 spreads across U.S. communities. I believe it can help flatten the curve of infections and help us to deploy medical staff and lifesaving equipment wisely.” and by Dr. Rebecca Grochow Mishuris, an internal medicine physician and associate chief medical information officer at BMC, “Before the pandemic, we were doing almost no telemedicine, but we have made a concerted effort to reduce the number of patients coming to our facility for ambulatory visits … to reduce the risk to our patients and to ourselves”.
Effective tools like Telemedicine have to be more aggressively implemented in order to help doctors and other healthcare professionals function at their peak during crises.
Please stay indoors and stay safe during this COVID – 19 (Coronavirus) pandemic. Let us support our healthcare professionals who are tirelessly working for us and our emergency & first responders who are continuing to fight the virus every day.
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