Propelled into mainstream use by the COVID-19 pandemic, telemedicine is becoming standard practice for many healthcare providers. According to David Ernst, MD, president of telemedicine innovator EPOWERdoc, these solutions will transform access to care and continue to drive more cost-effective delivery models, particularly at the EMS and emergency medicine level.

Telemedicine’s technological pain points

While telemedicine has undoubtedly come a long way, it still has significant limitations. One of the biggest limitations is provider usability. Often, telemedicine “platforms” are actually several disparate solutions cobbled together. These may include a video conferencing app, patient registration portal for demographic and insurance information, EMR, e-prescription app and discharge system.

Consequently, providers must toggle between separate software programs to review and enter patient data for a single encounter. This inefficient approach can introduce errors, create frustration for patients and providers, and jeopardize the continuity of care. There is hope, however: Telemedicine technology is making rapid advancements through purpose-built platforms.

Purpose-built telemedicine platforms

As Ernst explains, purpose-built telemedicine systems are solving these pain points by collapsing all functionality into a single, seamless platform. Instead of bouncing between applications, providers go to a single location to provide care and document a patient encounter, provide aftercare instructions, and view and share patient data, which is integrated into their main practice EMR and billing departments.

In addition, a single-platform approach simplifies the patient experience, helps overcome barriers to healthcare such as remote location or limited mobility, and promotes continuity of care among providers.

These three use cases in emergency medicine illustrate the advantages of an integrated telemedicine platform:

• EMS telemedicine: Leading-edge telemedicine systems are integrated with emergency medical service (EMS) platforms. This allows emergency medicine provider care to be rendered at the EMS scene, preventing unnecessary transport and expense for minor conditions and first responder consultation for complicated conditions. When hospital providers initiate an emergency telemedicine visit, they can access relevant patient demographic and insurance information collected by medics at the scene prior to hospital arrival, streamlining admission and care.
• Direct-to-patient care: Telemedicine platforms can be integrated with providers’ websites. Patients can book and access a telemedicine appointment through the provider’s portal with their existing login, while providers use one system to initiate telemedicine appointments, document patient encounters, view previous records, order prescriptions and send discharge instructions.
• Extended care: EMS providers or nursing home staff can use integrated telemedicine systems to obtain physician consultations and complete treatment onsite for patients in the extended care facility, potentially reducing the number of costly, unnecessary transports to the emergency department (ED).

Increasing telemedicine adoption

As telemedicine solutions mature, increasing adoption rates for both providers and patients will advance the growing area of community paramedicine, providing effective treatments at much lower costs than the ED.

Patient adoption requires having a frictionless user experience that delivers a high quality of care. Providers also need an excellent user experience with integrations that allow them to deliver uncompromised quality in a more streamlined and integrated manner. Increasing provider adoption of telemedicine will be accelerated by the technology’s ability to:

• Document and complete a patient encounter in one software platform
• Integrate with EMS systems allowing onsite care
• Make pre-hospital and hospital patient data accessible to all providers in the healthcare ecosystem
• Integrate with healthcare EMR and billing systems, complemented by AR optimization tools such as automated demographic verification, insurance discovery and insurance verification

The latest telemedicine technology can do everything we need it to and promises to improve access to care and reduce the billions of dollars lost in unnecessary EMS patient transports and ED visits. When done right, integrated telemedicine solutions can be the golden thread that unites providers and patients, providing better treatment closer to home.

To learn more about integrated telemedicine solutions, visit https://www.epowerdoc.com/