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I wanted to share this website with my followers.  It’s a great resource of information to stay up to date on the latest news in telemedicine!  

#telemedicine #telehealth #digital health #comm372t #tlcoffing

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Despite the argument and growing evidence that telemedicine can improve patient care the attached data breaks down the concerns for both the provider and patient.  Providers are concerned with potential malpractice lawsuits and low reimbursements from insurance carriers.  Patients are concerned with how accurately a doctor can diagnose them using telemedicine and many doctor’s are still not offering this service.  Those are the main concerns.  Take a look at the bar graph and see if you fit into any of those categories.  What are your concerns with telemedicine?

#telemedicine #telehealth #digital health #comm 372t #tlcoffing

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This is a really informative video for those who aren’t sure how telemedicine works.  Utilizing telemedicine will positively impact patients located in rural areas who have a difficult time making it to a doctor’s or specialist’s office.  Medical care that may not have been available to some can now be an option to those who use the technology.  Check it out!

#telemedicine #telehealth #digital health #comm372t #tlcoffing

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First, I will be replacing “mom” with “parent” since fathers also share in taking children to the doctor and I want to make sure to include them in this blog.  As a parent I know what it is like, and how stressful it is, to work around obligations of a career and take a child to see the doctor.  In my case, I would miss at least half a day of work because of the commute to the doctor’s office, wait time, exam, drop them off at school afterwards, and then commute to work.  A parent would have to either use their personal paid time off or not get paid for the time missed from work.  On tight budgets and a demanding career this can be very difficult.  I can see how a high ratio, as indicated in this article, of parents would prefer to use digital healthcare to care for their children.  Are you a parent?  Would you use this mode of healthcare for your children?

#Healthcare #digital healthcare #telemedicine #comm 372t

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This is an interesting technique to prepare patients for surgery.  Not only is it informative to the patient but it also allows data to be transferred to the surgeon to determine how prepared the patient will be for recovery and rehabilitation.  Utilizing an app like this would improve the outcome for the patient.

#surgery platform #digital health #tele health #comm372t

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Interesting.  So not only is digital health a means of closer monitoring and health maintenance, but those who participate with this technology are reporting higher satisfaction with the health care being provided.  This would indicate that patients who are using the technology feel more connected to their health care team.  

#healthcare

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Did you know Medicare will not reimburse hospitals for congestive heart failure (CHF) patients who are re-admitted within thirty days of a previous admission?  This is costing hospitals billions of dollars in unpaid expenses which inevitably drives up the cost of health care for everybody.  Mount Sinai Hospital is being proactive in reducing these re-admissions and costs by participating in digital health.  They are monitoring CHF patients remotely from their homes.  Patients are getting more care and attention, maintaining healthier lives, cutting down on re-admissions, and lowering health care costs.  

#digital health #telehealth #telemedicine #comm372t

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It appears that health care insurance providers and the medical professionals will have a long road to travel to establish more defined guidelines on reimbursements before more physicians are willing to get on board with digital healthcare.  Physicians want to be paid for their time and energy just like anybody else does and until they’re guaranteed payment from insurance I just don’t see this technology advancing along as quickly as I would like.  There are huge benefits to patient care to be able to utilize some sort of telemedicine from home.  Improving patient care and health would cut down on doctors visits and re-admissions into the hospital; so why aren’t the health insurance companies such as medicare and medicaid doing more to reimburse the physicians?

#digital healthcare #telehealth #telemedicine #comm372t

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I am sharing this article because it is full of information regarding various types of advanced health technologies and apps.  It is interesting to see the trend of people, patients, who are taking control of their healthcare and utilizing these tools.  From health trackers to digital watches that monitor exercise and vitals to apps that help diabetics count carbs there are many resources available online now to help the general population be more informative and proactive in their own health care.  

#daniel burrus #technology #health care

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Employers offering telemedicine benefits sound great!  However, as a nurse I just do not believe diagnosing strep throat over the phone is a good idea.  You simply cannot do a throat swab and test for the bacteria over digital devices.  Yet, anyway.  The frightening problem with handing out antibiotics when there is no real infection is it will lead to serious antibiotic resistant illnesses.  That does not sound like good medicine to me.

#telemedicine #digital healthcare #telehealth #comm372t

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What do you think?  Is telemedicine the future of health care?  More insurance policies are covering telemedicine with some restrictions.  Some healthcare insurances like Medicare and Medicaid have a whole lot of restrictions when it comes to this type of health care.  Some rules require that physicians meet with a patient prior to starting telemedicine.  This makes sense to me.  I would hope that a doctor would want to physically see a patient, do an initial examination, and then come up with a plan of care that includes telemedicine.  

#telemedicine #telehealth #digital health #comm372t

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Medicare is healthcare coverage for our older population.  It is mostly our older population that requires frequent follow up care for their many chronic illnesses.  With that being said; why then, is Medicare slow to take care of their clients and provide them health care coverage for telehealth?  The acceptance and coverage of telehealth is being more accepted by private insurance companies such as Anthem and Aetna and even some (but very restrictive) coverage through Medicaid.   “Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia have private telehealth coverage laws....The National Conference of State Legislatures estimates 32 states will have laws in effect by 2017″ (Herman, 2016).  Also according to Herman (2016), Medicare will only cover telehealth for our older population if they live in rural areas and they must use a clinical site.  Medicaid isn’t much better with similar restrictions to residing in rural areas and when there are provider shortages.  Private insurance is not as strict and patients may use telehealth anywhere, including in their own home, but not many clients or providers even know that the coverage exists.  

It seems to me that everybody, especially our older population would benefit from using telehealth in their home.  Others that would benefit are rural populations who have difficulty traveling to a doctor’s office.  Even more, patients who are home bound and cannot travel because of a debilitating illness could greatly benefit from this technology.  When we are in an age of improving patient care, reducing re-admissions, reducing healthcare costs; why isn’t Medicare and Medicaid doing more to get on board with this alternative?

#telehealth #digital healthcare #comm372t

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Are patients benefiting from incorporating telehealth into their health care? It would appear so with a decline in hospital readmissions with patients who are using this technology.  Would you use telehealth?

#digital healthcare #telehealth #comm372t

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Check out how far technology has come in the medical field and telehealth.  This device has the capability of looking into ears, recording breath sounds and heartbeat.  It can also take pictures.  This information is then sent to the physician for review.  With this data the physician can make assessments, diagnose, and treat all without having to leave home!

#digital health #telehealth #comm372t

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Telemedicine is getting easier and easier to participate in with today’s ever growing internet capabilities and use of smartphones.  Insurance companies are continuously adding more coverage each year for patients to access healthcare in this manner.  The number of participants, physicians and patients, continue to double in numbers as more people are embracing this new technology.  According to this article telemedicine is decreasing the length in hospital stays and is saving lives.  

#digital healthcare #telehealth #telemedicine #comm372t

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Telemedicine is a win-win for everybody involved.  According to this article nurses have reported that the use of this technology greatly improves productivity, collaboration, and job performance which in turn improves nursing assessments and patient outcomes.

#telehealth #digital healthcare #comm372t

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As digital healthcare grows, physicians are finding that they are spending more time uploading data and values which may be interfering with timely patient care.  They are also faced with having to use multiple networks to access patient information.  Patients are also facing obstacles as HIPAA places very strict privacy rules that may be making it difficult for patients to get around without too much hassle.  As with anything new, it will need to be worked and modified along the way to make it run efficiently.  Digital healthcare has the potential to improve patient care, but obstacles as described in this article do need to be ironed out.

#digital healthcare #comm372t