In part 2 of our lively chat with telehealth rapid implementation expert Sam Lippolis we gaze into the crystal ball that is telehealth during the pandemic. Find out what silver linings have developed out of this catastrophic event, learn more about the myth of telemedicine leaving people behind, how to properly acknowledge and serve LEP, Deaf, and vulnerable populations and how systems can integrate telehealth more holistically in to every day practice moving forward.
We end this delightful conversation with an Ad Astra Q and A session with our team members and Sam. You don’t want to miss this one! Tune in below.
As Sam lays out the future of the field she describes the post-pandemic importance of large-scale change management for how we deliver care. The hope is that providers won’t want to go back to “normal” after this. There are too many advantages to doing pre-surgery screenings virtually, communicating with regular patients for simple requests via email, and using virtual platforms for practitioner work-life balance amongst other things, There will no longer be a time or cost-effective benefit to returning to the brick and mortar paradigm.
Sam describes the process required for clinicians to learn to think differently about technology and healthcare:
“I think that if we can start to look at care delivery much more as low, medium, high and that we look at it much more as a path. So [the clinician thinks] I’m comfortable with email, telephone & video, in-person and then we have remote-patient monitoring on top for our complex people, and then we have this curbside consult and doc-to-doc…”
Head of Client Solutions, Jeff Weiser, looks in to the crystal ball with Sam
Beyond the anecdotal chatter around Telehealth leaving behind vulnerable populations, the fact is that not enough honest effort has been made to integrate translation services and interpretation in to the outreach, on-boarding, and serving of LEP patients, Deaf & HoH individuals, and vulnerable populations. A confirmation sent in English is of no value to someone in need of a translated form or onboarding email. These components need to be built in to these platforms and workflows from the start, they should not be afterthoughts Sam emphatically states.
We round out this animated discussion with an exploration of some of the best platforms and practices, for telehealth, the decision making process all institutions should make before going virtual and explore a series of exciting questions from the Ad Astra team.
Follow Sam on Linked-In, Twitter, and Instagram. Let us know your thoughts on this discussion!
