Telehealth Expansion

Stan, Clarence, and Barry chat with Pam Mink - Director of Health Services at the Minnesota Department of Health - about a newly released report on telehealth expansion.

Check out the new report here

Join the conversation at healthchatterpodcast.com

Brought to you in support of Hue-MAN, who is Creating Healthy Communities through Innovative Partnerships.

More about their work can be found at http://huemanpartnership.org/

Research: 

1. What is telehealth? 
1. Telehealth—or health care delivered using real-time two-way interactive audio and visual communications such as video or telephone calls (MDH)
2. MDH prelim report on telehealth
1. https://www.health.state.mn.us/data/economics/telehealth/docs/prelimreport.pdf
3. How and when did telehealth start?
1. The Civil War: The telegraph was used to send medical supplies and casualty reports during the Civil War. 
2. The early 1900s: Heart rhythms were transmitted over the telephone in the Netherlands. 
3. The 1920s: Transmissions were sent to radio consultation centers in Europe. 
4. The 1940s: Radiographic images were transmitted between cities in Pennsylvania. 
5. The 1950s and 1960s: The Nebraska Psychiatric Institute and Norfolk State Hospital used a closed-circuit television link for psychiatric consultations. 
6. 1970s: Telemedicine projects were developed, but were not followed by sustained funding. 
7. 2002: Teladoc was founded in Dallas, Texas, allowing patients to consult with state-licensed doctors remotely. 
8. COVID-19 pandemic: There was a rapid increase in the use of telemedicine across all divisions 
4. How popular in telehealth?
1. The COVID-19 pandemic sparked a profound shift in telehealth’s role as part of our health care ecosystem. Telehealth is here to stay.
2. Audio-only telehealth addresses narrow but important access challenges.
3. Audio-only telehealth addresses narrow but important access challenges.
5. Is telehealth helping or hurting?
1. Patients who have used telehealth have been generally satisfied with telehealth care and appreciate the convenience. Providers also observed that telehealth helps make care more accessible for people with transportation, work, or childcare challenges, as well as decreasing the number of missed appointments. In addition, providers also noted that the addition of telehealth options permits more flexibility in their schedules and may help to reduce burnout. 
2. Telehealth’s potential benefits for expanding access to mental and behavioral health and specialists are especially strong.
3. Assigning fair financial value to telehealth will take added research and consideration.
4. Telehealth has potential to improve health equity, but the digital divide and other systemic challenges risk making disparities worse
5. Telehealth sits at the nexus of rapidly changing systems.