Telemedicine remains a hot topic in health IT, and there are plenty of new developments with various telehealth technologies across the show floor at HIMSS19.

Integrating with an EHR

For example, telemedicine vendor American Well and behavioral health, social services and post-acute EHR vendor Netsmart have debuted a new approach to addressing the growing opioid crisis, as part of the Interoperability Showcase at HIMSS19.

Last year, Netsmart and American Well came together to announce a technology partnership to connect their respective networks, creating a community of providers to bring healthcare directly to the consumer virtually. The goal was to not only significantly improve health outcomes but lower costs by empowering providers to deliver care in the lowest acuity setting possible, the companies said.

Building on this partnership, Netsmart has now integrated American Well’s telehealth technology into its EHR platform. Through this integration, specialists can now conduct remote addiction therapy visits with individuals. This integrated workflow enables the delivery of real-time access to an addiction specialist that otherwise would not be accessible, the companies said.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, roughly 11.4 million people misuse prescription opioids and an estimated 130 people die each day from opioid-related drug overdoses, including prescription medications, heroin and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.

“Our partnership with American Well provides access to real-time quality care across multiple provider specialties related to behavioral health, addictions, social services and post-acute,” said Mike Valentine, CEO of Netsmart. “Many of these services are now being offered virtually and the combination of the Netsmart and American Well networks brings the largest provider reach across the nation.”

As payment models continue to shift to value-based care, connecting these scarce resources is key to providing integrated care, he added.

American Well is at HIMSS19 in booth 4031 and booth 9100-K2.

Telehealth platform refresh

Elsewhere on the show floor, Resideo Technologies unveiled a refresh of the company’s LifeStream telehealth software platform to manage remote patient care. Enhancements in the latest LifeStream update include patient health surveys, a pain monitoring scale, nearly 100 educational videos, and an updated user interface to help healthcare professionals improve patient care, reduce readmission rates and drive efficiencies, the company said.

“With our latest platform, as patients get discharged from the hospital their physician can now assign educational videos through LifeStream to help them understand their condition, and make choices that can impact their recovery,” said Scott Harkins, vice president and general manager of connected home at Resideo. “In addition, important vital signs, pain levels and responses to clinical questions are captured and delivered to clinicians that monitor, triage and interact with the patient.”

Resideo’s LifeStream 5.4 software now includes patient health questionnaires that can be customized and assigned via a calendar-based scheduling interface, helping remotely monitor behavioral health and other conditions. Also, pain monitoring with the industry-standard Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale that may be assigned to telemonitored patients dealing with chronic pain, enabling touch-screen, self-assessment of pain levels.

And among other new features the software now includes the aforementioned educational videos. Care providers can choose from a library of educational videos provided by the Wellness Network on some of the most common symptoms and conditions to coach patients on how to better manage their health.

Resideo Technologies is at HIMSS19 in booth 7645.

Moving into acute

On another telehealth front, Yorktel has announced at HIMSS19 a new addition to its Univago HE healthcare communications suite – the Acute patient solution.

With the same clinician interface as the Univago HE ICU, Acute has been purpose-built to give hospitals a flexible solution for greater expansion into patient environments outside of the ICU such as medical-surgical units, step-down units and emergency departments, providing remote clinical and monitoring workflows to the greater patient population, the company said.

Acute can also be used for inpatient telehealth programs such as on-demand remote specialty consults, clinical assessment and intervention, patient education, and roundhospitalist/wound/proactive/sepsis/discharge planning rounding. Acute offers the same features and functionality users know from Univago HE systems, including night vision, advanced remote camera and audio controls, ad hoc expansion to multiple participants with a text or e-mail link, and a patient on-hold feature for private sidebar discussions with remote participants, the company said.

Acute is fully interoperable with iObserver, the company’s patient observation application. iObserver was developed to protect the safety of patients who are at fall risk, raise behavioral health concerns or those who are at-risk but do not require being placed in an ICU room. The Acute unit’s footprint creates a balance between space and enhanced visualization capabilities, both for the patient, the family and/or the remote healthcare provider, without sacrificing features or functionality, the company contended.

“With the addition of Acute into our Univago HE platform, we are now able to support a greater range of clinical workflows within a healthcare environment,” said John Vitale, senior vice president of product management at Yorktel. “Offering a single versatile platform for multiple workflows provides better patient care and outcomes, delivers ease of use and interoperability, saving time, money and frustration.”

Yorktel is at HIMSS19 in booth 1973.

A 45-hospital health system

45-hospital health system Prime Healthcare has selected the acute care telemedicine technology of SOC Telemed to deliver a scalable and flexible technology platform for Prime’s national telemedicine operations. Prime Healthcare will use SOC’s Telemed IQ to support its standardization efforts across both clinical care and workflow.

SOC will support consults in psychiatry, neurology and critical care for all Prime hospitals, anticipating additional specialties as Prime Healthcare adds service lines into its telemedicine program in the future.

“We look forward to implementing Telemed IQ’s powerful reporting and analytics capabilities to support our varying clinical needs across our entire health system,” said Harsha Gopinath, director of telemedicine services at Prime Healthcare. “Telemedicine is one of the many ways Prime Healthcare serves our patients with convenient, high-quality care, and ensures quick access to specialists through technology.”

SOC Telemed is at HIMSS19 in booth 401.

Twitter: @SiwickiHealthIT
Email the writer: bill.siwicki@himssmedia.com