Telehealth Benefits And Barriers Discussion

Telehealth Benefits And Barriers Discussion

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Discussion Response

It is true that healthcare cost has significantly increased over the past decade not only in the U.S but worldwide. This is majorly attributed to the global inflation, increase in population, rise in chronic illnesses and complicated lifestyle diseases (The US Burden of Disease Collaborators, 2018). In this era, health information technology is suggested to help contain this high cost of health care provision. In addition to the forms of health information technology that you have mentioned, telehealth and telemedicine are currently gaining adoption in many healthcare settings especially after the Corona outbreak where people were required to keep distance and stay at home. In addition to the clinical and social benefits, telehealth and telemedicine have been indicated to deliver cost saving compared to in-person hospital visits. For instance, the net cost savings realized per telemedicine visit ranges between $19 and $121 per visit. Also, according to health insurance, the charges for Telemedicine visits were very much lower compared to cost of a face-to-face consultation, approximately $38 compared to $114 (Gajarawala & Pelkowski, 2021)Telehealth Benefits And Barriers Discussion.

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Despite the tremendous benefits of health information technology, various challenges hinder the full adoption of the technology in healthcare institutions. One major challenge is inadequate resources, both financial and skilled manpower to run the systems. Starting and running efficient health information systems requires good capital which is lacking among small health organizations and low income earners. Another challenge is the ethical issues. Due to the rise in cybercrimes and cyberattacks, maintaining privacy, confidentiality, and security of health information electronically is a great challenge to health care providers. In this regard, policymakers are urged to look into such challenges and formulate policies that will provide long-term solutions to such challenges (Stadhouders et al., 2019). In addition to the existing acts such as HITECH Act of 2009, more policies that address cybercrimes should be formulated.

References

Gajarawala, S. N., & Pelkowski, J. N. (2021). Telehealth benefits and barriers. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 17(2), 218-221. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nurpra.2020.09.013

Stadhouders, N., Kruse, F., Tanke, M., Koolman, X., & Jeurissen, P. (2019). Effective healthcare cost-containment policies: A systematic review. Health Policy, 123(1), 71-79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2018.10.015

The US Burden of Disease Collaborators. (2018). The state of US health, 1990-2016: Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Among US States. JAMA, 319(14), 1444–1472. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2018.0158 Telehealth Benefits And Barriers Discussion

Jacqueline Brewington
RE: Discussion – Week 5
COLLAPSE
Week 5 Initial Discussion Post

Technology and Cost Containment

Containing health care costs is a major problem in many countries, all stakeholders potentially play a role in solving this problem (van der Wees et al., 2017). Healthcare workers, especially physicians, can greatly help reduce costs associated with health care by engaging patients in a shared-decision making (Kost et al., 2015). Over the years places to receive wellness checkups and preventative services such as Patient First, MinuteClinic, MedExpress among others, have increased in the number of facilities and made access to care affordable to some people. People with mild illnesses or injuries can go to these places to avoid costly ER visits, or avoid unnecessary inpatient admissions. On the other hand , the rising healthcare costs have not only contributed to the decline in employer-sponsored coverage over the past decade, but have also been associated with rising health insurance premiums that have consistently outpaced the rate in cash wages (Wilensky, 2010)Telehealth Benefits And Barriers Discussion. Many middle to lower class workers often forgo necessary treatments or don’t get prescription medications filled because of costs.

Challenge to Containing Health Care Costs

According to Jencks & Schieber (1992), since 1970, U.S. health care expenditures have grown at an annual rate of 11.6 percent, 2.9 percentage points faster than our gross domestic product (GDP)). The U.S. began to focus on cost containment on Medicare as the number of people enrolled in the program rose due to babyboomers reaching the age in which they could apply for benefits, and the number of disabled and those with end stage renal disease increased. Challenges to containing health care costs can include access and quality. In an effort to contain costs through reducing payments per service may effect access to care and may reduce quality of care (Jencks & Schieber, 1992).

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Policy Makers and Technology

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009 included provisions intended to address many of the potential barriers to EHR adoption that included a financial incentives program that has paid physicians and other professionals $13 billion through December 2015 (Cohen, 2016). The HITECH Act authorized a program of positive and negative incentives to stimulate adoption and meaningful use of EHTs in the United States (Cohen, 2016)Telehealth Benefits And Barriers Discussion. I remember when Meaningful use was introduced and healthcare organizations big and small rushed to adopt the use of EHR to avoid the penalities. During the time many small organizations and those in rural communities were slow to adopt EHR use because of the lack of resources. After intergration the problem of getting the EHR to share information with other electronic systems became a problem. Federal policy makers in the U.S. began to recognize the need for an increased focus on interoperabilityTechnology such as the use of electronic medical records (EMR), imaging machines with 3D vision, robotic surgical machines, are some examples that policy makers can focus on making them affordable for health care organizations. In an effort to decrease costs some health care companies have resorted to outsourcing back office work, as well as insurance companies are paying more attention to incorrect coding or fraudulent claims (Health Care IT, 2016)Telehealth Benefits And Barriers Discussion.

Conclusion

I agree with policy makers on reducing medical costs by moving away from inpatient hospitalizations and costly ER services, to the use of preventive services, outsourcing services and the use of technology that includes interoperability.

References

Cohen, M.F. (2016). Impact of the HITECH financial incentives on EHR adoption in small, physician-owned practices. International Journal od Medical Informatics, Volume 94, October 2016, Pages 143-154

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2016.06.017

Health Care IT. (2016). Wall Street Transcript, 198(1), 1. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

Jencks, S.F., & Schieber, G.J. (1992). Containing U.S. health care costs: What bullet to bite? Health Care Financial Review. 1992 March; 1991(supply): 1-122. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4195141/

Kost, A., Genao, I., Lee, J.W., & Smith, S.R. (2015). Clinical decisions made in primary care clinics before and after choosing wisely. Journal American Board of Family Medicine, 2015; 28: 471-474

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DOI: 10.3122/jabfm.2015.05.140322

van der Wees, P.J., Wammes, J.J.G., Jeurissen, P.T., & Westert, G.P. (2017). The role of physicians and their professional bodies in containing health care costs, Family Practice, 34(6), pp 637-638

Wilensky, G.R.(2010). Health economics. Information Knowledge Systems Management 8(1-4): 179-193. https://doi.org/10.3233/IKS-2009-0155 Telehealth Benefits And Barriers Discussion