Four Ways Telehealth is Improving Home Care Delivery

As I’m sure most of you know by now, the aging population is growing exponentially. The rising demand for home care is becoming more and more appealing to the population due to advantages such cost effectiveness, better psychological impact on patients, and improved recovery periods.

In 2014, the Rhode Island Partnership for Home Care reported that over 20,000 citizens demanded home care, leading to approximately 1,000,000 visits from providers.

With the demand for home care on the rise, providers are seeking new ways to offer better care access to their patients.

According to a new report by Grand View Research Inc, the U.S. telehealth market is expected to reach USD 2.8 billion by 2022.

Telehealth is a solution that gives remote patients access to the care they need, but also provides numerous benefits to cater the demands of the aging population, hence the propelling market growth.

Here are some of the reasons you should consider implementing a telehealth system:

Increased access to basic care: Patients who live in remote areas have better access to the care they need. Many other patients are also enabled to more timely services with the help of telehealth technologies. Providers can experience increased productivity and more efficient case management, enabling them to care for a larger group of patients.

Increased patient satisfaction and overall quality of care: Increased patient satisfaction and overall quality of care can be found with the use of telehealth, because patients prefer to receive care in the comfort of their homes. There are also closer interactions with healthcare professionals, reduced anxiety, and fewer hospital visits.

Increased patient safety: Patient safety is increased due to tools such as round-the-clock remote patient monitoring, which aids care workers in their decision making processes enabling early detection and diagnosis.

Reduced hospital visits and readmissions: Hospital readmissions can be significantly reduced with the help of a telehealth system.

According to an OTN Telehomecare program, readmissions can be reduced by 71%, while other initiatives have encountered similar significant outcomes.

The good news is that in most states, Medicaid offers some kind of telehealth reimbursement. According to the its last report (July 2015), the Center for Connected Health Policy found that 47 states and the District of Columbia provide some form of coverage for telehealth.

These reimbursement programs vary widely from state to state, and are changing rapidly with increased popularity.

The best way to stay up-to-date is to keep in touch with your Medicaid representative, keep manuals handy, or regularly check in on the sources listed below:

• American Telemedicine Association (ATA)’s State Policy Center
• The National Telehealth Policy Center’s State Policy Map
• State Medicaid Websites

AlayaCare is a leading provider of an end-to-end home health care software platform that seamlessly integrates with our telehealth technologies.

We conduced a study with CBI Health Group that combined remote patient monitoring with machine learning to reduce hospital readmissions by an additional 10%, and have also been selected as an award recipient of the AdvancingHealth Program to seek ways to reduce hospital admissions and emergency department visits for chronically ill patients using our telehealth technologies.

Should you qualify for telehealth reimbursement, check out our telehealth system in a live demo today and see how our technologies can improve patient outcomes.