Fundamentals of Telehealth and Strategy
Learning Objectives:
1. Compare and evaluate three transmission methods for telehealth
2. Review the design principles and guidelines that incorporates the Business Context and Data layers of the analytics stack.
Teledermatology:Very logical specialty because there are very few emergencies in this specialty and an image of a skin lesion is frequently diagnostic.
Scenario:
Your specialty practice plans to transition from conventional dermatology referrals to the use of teledermatology. However, the team must decide which strategic approach to pursue as it relates to the transmission mode (see below).
·
Store-and-forward
o Images or videos are saved and sent later
o Asynchronous communication
·
Real time
o A specialist views video images transmitted from a remote site and discusses the case with another physician
o Requires more sophisticated equipment: two-way interactive telemonitors permit the specialist to see and talk to the patient
·
Remote monitoring
o Monitor patients at home or in a nursing home; usually part of disease management
A 2008 UC-San Francisco study compared skin cancer patients who received store and forward tele-dermatology services with patients who received conventional dermatology referrals. The tele-dermatology patients, on average, completed their initial consults in 4 days, versus 48 days for conventionally referred patients;
Case Study Questions
1. Think about the three telehealth transmission modes, which transmission mode would your practice consider adopting?
o Provide evidence/explanation for this choice. The evidence that you use to assist you with this question can be provided via a link (APA citation is not required).
2. List and describe three data sources (ex. EMRs, clinical database) that will be important to your teledermatoogy system. Please lists your items with a brief description.
3. From a clinical perspective, how do you plan to measure the improvements of health outcomes based on your telehealth transmission method?
Additional Reference (Outcome Measures):
Types of Healthcare Quality Measures-https://www.ahrq.gov/talkingquality/measures/types.html