Here are a few I have noticed.
First – we have a couple of review articles…
Telehealth: call for formal clinical governance framework
Jeetendra
Mathur
Georgia Zammit
Grant Phelps
TELEHEALTH can be defined as providing health care, including preventive, diagnostic and treatment services, by using information and communication technologies such as videoconferencing, electronic messaging and telephone calls (here and here).
In recent years, with the increasing use of technology in health care, the provision of health care services has seen a transition away from traditional face-to-face consultation and assessment towards virtual models. Telehealth improves access, overcomes distance or interstate travel barriers, and provides patients with the convenience and availability of health care clinicians from the comfort of one’s home. Telehealth also provides both clinicians and consumers with an additional layer of safety in relation to infection control.
We have come to realise the importance of telehealth amid the current COVID-19 pandemic. We have witnessed an exponential surge in the promotion and use of telehealth services and its emergence as a potential and promising tool to deliver a range of health care services. This is evident from the fact that more than 7 million telehealth consultations funded by the Medicare Benefits Schedule have been provided throughout Australia since March 2020.
With a rush in primary, acute and specialist care consultations, telehealth has enabled consumers to receive treatment and guidance for COVID-19 and a variety of other medical conditions with limited physical contact, thereby reducing the chances of viral transmission to clinicians and the community.
Lots more here:
https://insightplus.mja.com.au/2020/34/telehealth-call-for-formal-clinical-governance-framework/
Also we have this:
Teletrials closing the geographic gap in cancer mortality
Authored by Nicole MacKee
INNOVATIVE teletrial models can help to close the cancer mortality gap between regional/rural patients and metropolitan patients by improving access to clinical trials, say experts in the MJA.
The authors reported that between 2000 and 2010, patients in rural and regional Australia had a 7% higher cancer mortality rate than patients in metropolitan areas. This equated to an additional 9000 cancer deaths in rural and regional settings.
And despite clinical trials being the “gateway to accessing cutting edge therapies and technology”, less than 5% of regional cancer patients participated in any clinical trial, they wrote.
The authors outlined one telehealth framework established by the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre (VCCC) – an alliance of 10 leading research, clinical and academic institutions in Victoria – which uses telehealth to provide access to clinical trials closer to home.
Lots more here:
https://insightplus.mja.com.au/2020/34/teletrials-closing-the-geographic-gap-in-cancer-mortality/
There has also been some political movement here:
RACGP welcomes endorsement for telehealth extension
A senate committee has supported the continuation of bulk-billed telehealth past its original September deadline, an interim report shows.
The RACGP supported the recommendations of the Select Committee on Financial Technology and Regulatory Technology, which said the Medicare telehealth item numbers should be made permanent, with ongoing refinement and review as appropriate.
The report also said the government plan to fast-track the implementation of electronic prescriptions during the COVID-19 pandemic should continue to be rolled out as quickly as possible.
“The government should also ensure that the system implemented creates an open and accessible market for ePrescription services in Australia,” the authors said.
And while the government has remained tight-lipped on whether they will extend the telehealth MBS item numbers, which are set to expire on 30 September, their actions over the past months hint an extension is looming.
In mid-July, the government had tightened the eligibility criteria for patients seeking bulk-billed telehealth consults.
More here:
http://medicalrepublic.com.au/racgp-welcomes-endorsement-for-telehealth-extension/34091
and also here:
Parliamentary inquiry calls for telehealth extension
A Senate Select Committee has agreed with the RACGP’s recommendation for telehealth to become a permanent feature of the healthcare system.
03 Sep 2020
The Senate Select Committee on Financial
Technology and Regulatory Technology’s interim report, tabled on Wednesday 2 September, recommends
extending Medicare-funded telehealth services beyond the pandemic as a means of
‘increasing patient choice and control over their health services’.
‘The Committee received overwhelming support for the expansion of the
availability of telehealth services by general practitioners and other medical
specialists during COVID-19, hearing that it has been transformational to the
health system both in responding to the pandemic and for the future,’ the
report states.
‘Telehealth has been embraced by patients and doctors alike. The benefits
extend beyond cost savings to improving patient outcomes and ensuring access in
non-metropolitan areas.
‘The Committee emphasises in particular that access to telehealth services has
been critically important to Australians in rural, regional and remote areas
during the pandemic. It is vital that the needs of rural Australians continue
to be addressed through the use of appropriate telehealth services into the
future.’
Deputy Chair of the RACGP Expert Committee – Practice Technology and Management
(REC–PTM) Dr Steven Kaye, who contributed to the RACGP’s
submission to the inquiry, welcomed the news.
‘It [would be] a wonderful step forward into the 21st century for Medicare to
allow universal access to telehealth communication in various forms,’ he told newsGP.
‘There’s clearly a fantastic benefit for a substantial subsection of the
community, be they vulnerable patients, be they unwell patients, be they
immobile patients or be they patients in remote circumstances where they can’t
physically attend the surgery or the doctor can’t physically attend their
location in order to provide care.’
The Committee notes, however, that any permanent changes to telehealth must not
result in ‘a diminishing of the availability of face-to-face GP services’ and
that patients who wish to access health services in person ‘should be enabled
to do so wherever possible’.
More here:
https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/professional/parliamentary-inquiry-calls-for-telehealth-extensi
So we are seeing increasing recognition of the value of telehealth at a Government level as well as increasing efforts to improve the quality, safety and governance of delivery of care in this way.
Overall it seems pretty positive.
David.
1 comment:
Lmaybe the new role for MyHR is as a PABX, exchanging conversational data.
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