How Telemedicine can be the Bridge for providing Better Medical Care in Rural Areas

Provides access to local providers for getting in touch with ER providers to get real-time analysis and consultations.

Provides access to integrated care to the patients during primary care visits.

It allows rural specialists and primary care providers to work together as a team to manage patient care and share knowledge. E-consultations is a type of provider-to-provider model.

It provides remote monitoring of patients in critical situations. A team of specialists works round-the-clock to monitor the patient parameters.

It provides access to pharmacy services like medications and medication counseling. It connects the patient to community pharmacy centers and rural healthcare facilities.

It engages the patients in in-between medical visits and helps them in managing their condition effectively.

It gives access to rural people to connect with urban mental health and behavioral health specialists.

A broadband connection becomes a necessity when it comes to telemedicine programs, HIT (health information technology), and HIEs (health information exchanges) to increase the quality of healthcare.

Initially, broadband was only required for providing telehealth services but today, it is required in patients’ homes as well.

Some of the rural communities do not possess access to an internet connection.

This gap may lead to a new set of health inequities.

Malpractice is one of the major reasons restricting the adoption of telehealth in rural areas. HIPAA, credentialing, security, privacy, and prescribing need to be encrypted for the data to be safe.

Though healthcare in rural areas is vital, the providers cannot risk making a breach with the PHI (Patient Health Information).

For telemedicine programs, medicare reimbursement, geographic concerns, service restrictions, provider restrictions, and site restrictions have always been an issue.

State wise Medicaid programs vary for telehealth services reimbursement.

CCHP’s biannual report emphasizes Medicaid coverage for telehealth services.

Reimbursement for telehealth services varies for different private payers.

Some payers reimburse for telehealth services, while others don’t.

Physicians wanting to practice across states must have a license from the professional licensing board of each state where they deliver care.

The licensure and interstate compacts section of the 2021 NCSL (National Conference of State Legislatures) Telehealth Explainer Series mentions the actions undertaken by the states to ease the licensure barriers and associated burdens:

• Endorsement and reciprocity with other states
• Building interstate compacts
• Providing specific licenses for telehealth

With the support of HHS and HRSA, the Federation of State Medical Boards launched Provider Bridge, a platform to provide license portability to providers.

It allows the providers to treat patients and submit credentials in high-demand areas with telehealth.

The IMLC (Interstate Medical Licensure Compact) is an arrangement between the District of Columbia, 29 states, 43 osteopathic and medical boards, and the territory of Guam.

Within these states and territories, it offers a process for eligible physicians to get licensed and practice in multiple states.

The VA (Veterans Affairs) is an exception.

VA physicians can practice across states as they have license portability.

There are several licensing compacts for healthcare service delivery in rural areas using telehealth. Some of these are:

• PSYPACT (Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact)
• NLC (Nurse Licensure Compact)
• APRN Compact (Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Compact)
• REPLICA (The Recognition of EMS Personnel Licensure Compact)
• ASLP-IC (Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Interstate Compact)

It offers grants to improve telemedicine and support distance education services in rural areas.

For essential community facilities, it provides direct grants and loans.

In eligible rural areas, it provides the funding for needed equipment to establish broadband service. It also gives funds for acquiring, constructing, or improving facilities.

These technologies are designed to deal with chronic health issues. It supports patients with cognitive impairments (dementia) and assists them in overcoming their limitations. Augmented reality has benefited robotic surgery, a substantial growing part of healthcare.

Embedding a patient’s EHR (electronic health record) is vital to use the information productively in telemedicine. Though 96% of the US hospitals have adopted EHR technology, software developers have a promising field in integrating EHR systems with telemedicine solutions.

EHR integration will play a massive role in the security of PHI (patient health information). Data security should be prioritized when building telemedicine applications. Lack of security is a significant reason for the reluctance to use telemedicine solutions.

It would be best if you also explore: Telehealth EHR Integration

AI and ML will continue to develop and grow till their full potential is found in healthcare. At present, this technology is used for thermal screening, stroke prevention and prediction, CT scan analysis, and more.

Big Data will pave the way for in-depth research by providing valuable insights and statistics on society’s healthcare needs.

Due to the data security issues, Health Level 7 is a growing but existing trend in telehealth.

It is an internationally used telecommunications standard to facilitate medical data transfer between healthcare applications, including administrative programs.

You must also explore: HL7 Integration & Development Solution

In the healthcare industry, tracking all patient treatment information is vital for every provider. This information consists of provider visits, pharmacy records, and medical history.

Integrated data sharing collects this information and grants access to all the clinics and hospitals visited by patients. The patient will not have to share this data when they’ve got an appointment with a new physician or provider.

Investing in new technologies will aid you in using telemedicine effectively. Healthcare organizations are willing to invest more in telemedicine and telehealth. With the development of telemedicine, the circumstances will change.

Remote monitoring controls the patient’s health and reduces the number of offline clinical visits. It uses wearable technology to check the vital parameters of your patients and allows them to share the information with you. Hence, you will be able to provide care when there is any change in the patient’s vitals.

Gartner used this term in a telehealth trends report in 2021. Internet of behaviors (IoB) combines data from different sources, going one step ahead of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data. It uses behavioral data (from internet usage) to develop recommendations for better choices.

Human behavior can be changed and predicted significantly.

Similar algorithms are used in digital marketing, social media, and bank systems.

To improve human health, human behavior needs to be changed.

In 2022, 590+ healthcare institutions reported data breaches to the Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR). It affected about 48.6 million people, an increase from 40 million in 2021. Due to the growing number of data breaches, data security remains the top trend for the year and beyond.