Happy 2024!
As we close out 2023 and start afresh with 53 Telehealth Tuesdays in 2024, I wanted to start out with a “best of” Telehealth Tuesday 2023 in an organized fashion that makes it easy to navigate.
Whether you are recently new to telehealth or a seasoned veteran, there are articles for everyone here and you are welcome to share this article with your leaders and your colleagues.
Covering The Basics
One of the insights I gained after attending way too many committee meetings at the Mayo Clinic, is that “everybody agrees until somebody defines it”. So, let’s start with the basic definition of telehealth and an overview of its versatility:
What is Telehealth?

It was time for a basic primer on the simplest of questions: What is Telehealth? In this article we cover the definition, its use as a clinical tool and its use as a strategic tool.

96 Common Video Telemedicine Scenarios

Did you realize that there are 96 common scenarios for video telemedicine? Patients and providers can be in different locations, there are different scheduling types, and we can have video visits or virtual exams. This article

describes them all.

At the beginning of the year it also looked like 2023 was going to be “the year of RPM”, though I did not see adoption rise as much — though we did receive numerous inquiries to help organizations figure out how to get their RPM programs off the ground and to scale, sustainably. This article covers some of the basics of RPM:
Dashboard Medicine: Remote Physiological Monitoring (RPM) driving Engagement & Outcomes

Remote Physiological Monitoring is a great virtual care modality to keep patients out of the hospital and to manage their chronic decisions. Here’s a primer on the value, benefits,

and the system of RPM.

Last but not least, if an organization is really serious about reaping the benefits of telehealth (and soon digital health), the creation of a Telehealth Coordinator role is crucial. These two articles lay out the basics as to their roles and their needed skill sets.
The 7 Critical Qualities of a Rock Star Telehealth Coordinator
The primary responsibility of a Telehealth Coordinator is to help providers and patients have a great telehealth experience. This article describes the responsibilities,

qualities, and skills of a Rock Star Telehealth Coordinator.

The 7 Skills of a Rock Star Telehealth Coordinator
What soft skills and hard skills does your Telehealth Coordinator need to rise up to the Rock Star level? Here are the 7 key skills that a Telehealth Coordinator must master.
 
Guidance for Leaders

For healthcare leaders who after Covid haven’t really thought about telehealth that much, the following, hopefully enlightening, article makes the case that telehealth — as a tactical, strategic tool — can help an organization to achieve ALL of its strategic objectives. I.e., telehealth is not just one of the initiatives…it is a powerful tactic that can help achieve all of the other objectives:

Telehealth Creates Strategic Success
Did you know that Telehealth can improve financial growth, improve outcomes, increase patient retention, attract talented staff and make your organization a valued member of your communities?

With the increasing growth of non-traditional care delivery competitors (e.g., Amazon Clinic) many business models are pursuing a virtual care first approach, which I’m exploring this article:

Can Virtual First Become the Norm?
The concept of virtual first holds the promise of convenient access to care when I need it, how I want it. This article explores the implications.
 

Which leads directly into my preposterous goal that healthcare leaders should be aiming for 100% telehealth — which by the way does not mean that 100% of outpatient care should be virtual. This article explains what 100% Telehealth does mean (to me):

100% Telehealth is not a Dream
Getting to 100% Telehealth does not mean it’s all virtual. Rather it means that telehealth should be used all of the time when patients desire it, when they have the technical capabilities, and when it’s clinically appropriate. This article

provides guidance on how to get there.

Once a clinic’s leadership team commits itself to telehealth, the selection and launch of new telehealth initiatives should be done through three different lenses, as the following article lays out:

3 Tactics for Sustainable Virtual Care

If you are committed to virtual care, then you have to make it sustainable in three ways: strategically, clinically, and financially. This article explains how.

Finally, when leaders have committed themselves to leveraging the power of telehealth, the success of the telehealth performed must be measured in order to be managed. These two articles provide the basics on establishing a simple but effective telehealth performance management system:

How to Measure Telehealth Success

To establish a dashboard of #telehealth success, we first must identify what types of measures can be collected and what else is involved. This is the first in a series of articles on measuring telehealth success.

Telehealth Performance Metrics
This second article in the series on telehealth performance measurement focuses on some sample metrics to select from.
Additional Considerations

Since healthcare organizations are increasingly driven by patient outcomes, being able to adequately engage and “activate” patients is key to success. Telehealth can help in that regard, and this article explores the concept and the evolution of the terminology:

Patient Experience, Patient Satisfaction, Patient Engagement: What’s the Difference?
Measuring patient satisfaction and patient engagement are two critical aspects of the quality of care. But where does the patient experience come in? How can you leverage

virtual care to improve the patient experience and achieve high levels of patient satisfaction to create a high degree of patient engagement?

For telehealth to succeed, most important is the mindset of the clinicians. As in all of healthcare, without the buy-in and engagement of clinicians, nothing works, especially not telehealth. In 2023 I explored that notion in these two articles:

8 Reasons Why Clinicians are Apprehensive About Telehealth

When clinicians do not believe that telehealth is for them (or their patients) then your telehealth program will never reach its full potential. Here are 7 things you can do to get

clinicians on board.

Is Telehealth Rocket Science?

Is Telehealth Rocket Science? No, Telehealth is not Rocket Science. But getting clinicians to use telehealth well, is. Luckily here is a formula for achieving telehealth adoption success.

Happy New Year!

As we break ground on a New Year I wish you all your best for your Telehealth and Digital Health endeavors – and if you ever want to have a chat about what you’re up to, let me know.

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Christian Milaster and his team optimize Telehealth Services for health systems and physician practices. Christian is the Founder and President of Ingenium Digital Health Advisors where he and his expert consortium partner with healthcare leaders to enable the delivery of extraordinary care.

Contact Christian by phone or text at 657-464-3648, via email, or video chat.

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