We’re excited to share the topic and questions for this week’s #HITsm chat happening Friday, 5/15 at Noon ET (9 AM PT). This week’s chat will be hosted by Theresa Moss (@theresajmoss) from @InterlaceHealth on the topic of “Remote Patient Intake in the Post-COVID World“.
What a roller coaster ride this has been. From the moment it became widely apparent how serious the COVID-19 global pandemic might become, we have seen a complete upending of the needs of healthcare providers and their patients. The healthcare industry, historically slow to “turn the ship” and adopt new technologies, quickly pivoted to find solutions that kept patients out of waiting areas. Federal health officials, who had long placed technological and privacy restrictions on the delivery of telehealth services, moved to empower providers to serve their patients wherever they might be. And patients, nearly half of whom who just a year ago reported being skeptical of the benefits of health IT, began using Telehealth for 30% of ambulatory visits.
“The genie’s out of the bottle on this one,” said Seema Verma of the rise of telehealth during the pandemic. “[I]t’s taken the crisis to push us to a new frontier, but there’s absolutely no going back.”
We, as a nation, are still working to figure out what the “new normal” will be. And while the way we deliver care may have permanently been altered, there are some processes in healthcare we know are unlikely to change. Patients will need to provide demographic and financial information so that claims can be processed, and healthcare providers can be paid. They’ll need to show their insurance card and ID to ensure accurate data capture. They’ll need to give consent to certain activities, and informed consent to others. They’ll need to provide health histories, signs and symptoms, and lists of medications and allergies so that care can effectively be delivered. You know … all those things we used to do on paper … in a crowded waiting room … full of other patients. Just as care delivery has been made remote, the intake process will also need to be available remotely as well.
In this week’s HITsm chat, let’s talk about some of the challenges we face around patient intake, and how remote patient intake can be used to support remote care delivery.
Topics for this week’s #HITsm Chat:
T1: Have you attended a telehealth visit due to the pandemic? What was the intake process like? What do you feel worked and what didn’t? #HITsm
T2: Do you agree with Verma’s comment that “The genie’s out of the bottle” on telehealth? Will patients be more willing to attend telehealth visits even when this crisis has passed? #HITsm
T3: What healthcare processes that were historically done on paper do you think are a good fit for a mobile-friendly remote patient intake solution? What processes do you think are a poor fit? #HITsm
T4: What do you see as some of the barriers to patient adoption of telehealth? #HITsm
T5: What are some ways that you think technology could go even further to unite providers and patients? #HITsm
Bonus: Do you think the pandemic has permanently changed the way you’ll view hanging out in waiting rooms and touching the shared surfaces we’ve always had in healthcare like clipboards, paper, and pens? #HITsm
Upcoming #HITsm Chat Schedule
5/22 – The Role of Specialty Specific Telehealth
Hosted by Melissa Alvares, VP Marketing (@swiftmedical) from Swift Medical
5/29 – Remote Patient Monitoring
Hosted by Lygeia Ricciardi (@Lygeia) and Ashley Dauwer (@amariedauwer) from @CariumCares
6/5 – Ambulatory Telehealth Nuances
Hosted by Amanda Hansen (@AmandaSHansen) from @AdvancedMD
We look forward to learning from the #HITsm community! As always, let us know if you’d like to host a future #HITsm chat or if you know someone you think we should invite to host.
If you’re searching for the latest #HITsm chat, you can always find the latest #HITsm chat and schedule of chats here.
