Will “Telehealth” Soon Become, Simply, “Health?”

A Health IT Summit-New York panel discussion probed exciting healthcare delivery potentialities

It was my privilege and pleasure last week to moderate a panel discussion on telehealth and population health at the Health IT Summit in New York, sponsored by our publication, Healthcare Informatics. Our panel discussion, under the title “Telehealth: New Platform for Population Health,” was privileged to have with us Rahul Sharma, M.D., emergency physician-in-chief in the Division of Emergency Medicine, New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center; Mony Weschler, chief and senior director, applications and innovations strategy, at Montefiore Health Systems; and Todd D. Ellis, a managing director at KPMG.

We looked at a broad range of issues, including payment, industry, clinical practice, and technological developments that have been dramatically expanding the concept and implementation of telehealth. For example, as noted in the report on the session published by our Assistant Editor Heather Landi, Dr. Sharma shared extensively with our audience about a telehealth initiative that has been very successful at New York Presbyterian-Weil Cornell, involving efforts to reduce waiting times in that organization’s emergency department by offering patients waiting in the ED the opportunity to move next door in the facility to a space where they can immediately be seen by a physician via a telehealth connection. “We launched a pilot telehealth program so when a patient comes into the ER, they have the option of a virtual visit through real-time video interactions with a clinician after having an initial triage and medical screening exam. So they go to a private room and see a clinician via a telehealth monitor,” Sharma noted. “The analogy we use is that years ago there were banks going up on every single street corner, and then the banks all put in ATMs. And people said that’s crazy, why go to ATM when can go to the teller? It’s the same concept. We’re allowing patients a choice in how they get healthcare.” For the full article click here 

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