The Friday Five – The First Annual Telehealth Awareness Week
Recognizing the first-ever Telehealth Awareness Week, September 19-25, 2021
Follow and join the conversation with #TelehealthAwarenessWeek, #TelehealthIsHealth, #virtualcare and #telemedicine.
The official week is being dedicated by the American Telemedicine Association (@AmericanTelemed) to highlight and reinforce the central role that telehealth now plays in the delivery of healthcare services. Our Friday Five is brought to you by eVisit (@eVisit), a virtual care platform for national healthcare systems and IDNs.
Here are five healthcare organizations that are harnessing the power of telehealth in a range of different ways.
1. Business Intelligence
Concentra (@ConcentraHealth), the leader in Occupational Telehealth, has very complicated workflows with Care Coordinators assigned to patients and multiple handoffs throughout their Virtual Care process. The telemedicine team led by Ann Schnure, VP of Telemedicine, uses sophisticated reporting capabilities, especially real-time data features, to stay in-the-know of their clinical workflow to continually optimize efficiencies.
2. Specialty Care
Banner Health (@BannerHealth) is using telehealth across its enterprise. They started out with a few specialty areas in 2020 and have since broadened to 27 specialties from Urgent Care to Memory Care. Banner also conducted one of the fastest telehealth technology deployments for a health system of its size in March 2020.
3. Seamless Access
MMM, the only Medicare Advantage service provider in Puerto Rico, recently launched Cita Virtual (Virtual Appointment in English) in response to the needs of older adults to offer easy and convenient access to healthcare. Cita Virtual allows patients to schedule an appointment with the patient’s primary doctor or, if his/her own doctor is not available, it can guarantee an appointment with another provider in MMM’s network. This new service strengthens the relationship between doctors and patients and lowers healthcare costs. The telehealth solution integrates seamlessly into MMM’s current app, which is important so that seniors served by Cita Virtual don’t have to learn a new piece of technology to benefit from the new service.
4. Consistency of Care
Easterseals of Michigan (@EasterSealsMI) serves the behavioral health needs for people of all ages via telehealth. Easterseals had been using telehealth for some time, but when the pandemic hit, like many other providers in the behavioral health industry, usage spiked and hasn’t slowed down. Easterseals Michigan’s mission is: Today and every day, to lead the way to full equity, inclusion and access through life-changing disability and community services. This organization’s advanced use of telehealth to serve its mission is extraordinary!
5. Transitional Care
Envision Physician Services (@Envision_Cares) harnesses the power of telehealth for its emergency department’s Transitional Care program, efficiently providing a virtual care solution for patients in the Dallas metro area who have been discharged from the hospital and need follow-up care. This approach improves patient satisfaction and reduces hospital readmissions.
There are many more organizations we could celebrate here that are leveraging the power of Virtual Care technology to enhance patient care. We are just getting started. Join the celebration by visiting the official Telehealth Awareness Week at TelehealthAwareness.org.
Bonus
Watch our 3rd Annual Virtual Panel Discussion: Current Outlook and What the Future Holds
Hear moderator Jim Tate and industry leaders, Robert Havasy, Karen Joyce, Bill Paschall discuss where we sit today and what the future holds for telehealth.
ICYMI – Our other Friday Fives and Blog posts from HCNR’s Nurse Lauren.
