Crisis often breeds innovation and this current crisis has helped to propel telehealth into the mainstream. Remote access and improved video linkage has enabled healthcare professionals to reach more patients. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services defines telehealth as: “the use of electronic information and telecommunications technologies to support and promote long‐distance clinical health care, patient and professional health‐related education, public health and health administration.”
In terms of how this for of healthcare technology may evolve during the course of 2021, Digital Journal looks at some predictions.
2020 has impacted on healthcare work and workers?
It has been a tough year for healthcare professionals. Doctors and nurses are exhausted from being on the frontlines of the pandemic, and specialists are overwhelmed with having to adopt telehealth platforms overnight. It’s clear that healthcare organizations are going to need to make changes next year to improve the lives of their workers.
Some providers report they are consulting with 50 to 175 times more patients via telehealth since the coronavirus pandemic started. This has led some practitioners to take the view that telehealth has progressed more rapidly in six months than in the last decade.
Telehealth offers a viable solution and the delivery be improved upon?
One area of improvement providers will be prioritizing is the user experience for the devices and tools used by healthcare employees. Doctors, nurses and specialists have been forced to use band-aided solutions, but they will need targeted custom tools that provide real value. Not only does improving UX design remove pain points for healthcare workers, but it also helps providers gain operational efficiencies for things like scheduling.
Telehealth can deliver costs savings. The cost of taking care of a patient‐per‐visit is the running cost of a healthcare system. Running costs include fixed costs and variable costs. Through telehealth these costs can be significantly reduced.
There are other technological improvements for the telehealth technological wave
Providers will need to invest in better user experiences for their patients, as they will continue to expect deeper, integrated experiences with chat, voice and social as a means to keep up with other platforms. Another area for consideration is that the increased use of telehealth services is also drawing heightened cybersecurity concerns.
