Institutions Must Continue Riding Telehealth Growth Momentum for Post-Pandemic Care
Governments and health providers have an opportunity to carry the momentum of 2020 for telehealth’s future.
July 15, 2021 — The average healthcare organization completed two years’ worth of digital transformation during the first two months of the pandemic, according to IDC Health Insights data. This is only the beginning of telehealth advancement, and governments and health providers should continue to push for further development even after the pandemic slows, the Western Governor’s Association said in a virtual event last month.
The WGA launched its Western Prosperity Roundtable to work on policies such as telehealth and other technologies that have the potential to connect unserved and underserved communities.
While telehealth technologies have been gaining traction for some time, the past year led to a tremendous increase in usage. David Pryor, regional vice president and medical director for Anthem Inc., said that 2020 saw 80 times more utilization of telehealth than the year prior.
With the help of innovation, health centers were able to pivot from in-person care to digital. Digital kiosks have been implemented in states such as California to help improve specialty care and decrease language barriers. These kiosks give patients access to cameras put them in touch with healthcare professionals for important services including mental health.
Empirical experiences
In one experience that Pryor shared from a frontline women’s health clinic in California, a deaf patient came in for an exam and the clinic was able to utilize the video feature with a sign language interpreter on the digital kiosk. “The patient started to cry because she [had] never had such a caring visit,” Pryor said.
Technology advancement has created opportunities for those that previously were overlooked, including rural communities that were forced to commute long distances to receive healthcare and urban centers that lacked options.
The WGA aimed for the panel to push state legislators to continue increasing healthcare access for their constituents through digitalization.
Some states have established their ongoing commitment to telehealth already. In a statement released in August 2020, the Governors of Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington shared their goals to support telehealth services for residents of their states. “Telehealth is here to stay.” they wrote. “We will have individual state-driven approaches to implementing telehealth policies, but our work will be guided by seven overarching principles: access, confidentiality, equity, standard of care, stewardship, patient choice, and payment/reimbursement.”
Over the course of the pandemic, Congress has created and helped fund several programs, many of which focus on telehealth, programs to help accelerate broadband deployment across the country in efforts to connect minority communities, Tribal lands, and other qualifying households.
