As we continue to face the realities of social distancing, isolation, and quarantining in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, health care organizations are seeking effective and timely solutions for addressing epidemic situations. Ideally, these solutions would greatly reduce the risk of exposure to infection for vulnerable populations and health care workers while still allowing for the provision of adequate care to patients. Telehealth is an ideal solution for the management of communicable diseases –aiding in remote assessment and provision of care for the infected as well convenient access to routine care for patients who are not infected (Smith, Thomas, Snoswell, Haydon, Mehrotra, Clemensen, & Caffery).  Zhou, Snoswell, Harding, Bambling, Edirippulige, Bai, and Smith also cite the psychological side effects of COVID-19 that potentially could affect patients as well as clinical and nonclinical staff – stress, anxiety, burnout, depressive symptoms, and the need for sick or stress leave. These all underscore the need for the provision of mental health support to aid well-being and cope with acute and postacute health requirements more favorably – aspects that telehealth has been shown to treat (Zhou, Snoswell, Harding, Bambling, Edirippulige, Bai, & Smith). Additional motivating factors include the decision of The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to issue an 1135 Waiver and expanded telehealth coverage for all Medicare patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, clearing the way for evaluation and management of most patients (Lee, Kovarik, Tejasvi, Pizarro, & Lipoff).

While all of these factors further the argument for adoption of telehealth treatment, some significant barriers to implementation may exist in your organization that may need to be addressed. These include the existence of suitable technology within the organization, provider willingness to accept this technology as a solution, provider credentialing, billing and reimbursement considerations, as well as lack of a supporting infrastructure within the hospital.  I list these considerations in order to promote the analysis of the readiness of your organization to implement telehealth as not only a short-term solution for the current COVID-19 crisis, but as an ongoing strategy to meet crises in the future.

 

Lee, I., Kovarik, C., Tejasvi, T., Pizarro, M., & Lipoff, J. B. (2020). Telehealth: Helping Your Patients and Practice Survive and Thrive During the COVID-19 Crisis with Rapid Quality Implementation. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

Smith, A. C., Thomas, E., Snoswell, C. L., Haydon, H., Mehrotra, A., Clemensen, J., & Caffery, L. J. (2020). Telehealth for global emergencies: Implications for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare, 1357633X20916567.

Zhou, X., Snoswell, C. L., Harding, L. E., Bambling, M., Edirippulige, S., Bai, X., & Smith, A. C. (2020). The role of telehealth in reducing the mental health burden from COVID-19. Telemedicine and e-Health.