5 ways telehealth improves market position
Telehealth's promise of opening a virtual connection between clinicians, organizations and patients offers the opportunity to increase patient access while improving care continuity. But telehealth can also provide business benefits for healthcare providers. "The demand for (telehealth) is ripe," said Ateret Haselkorn, lead on technology and innovation at Sg2, a healthcare analytics, intelligence and consulting company. "Hospitals today are being challenged to assume increased accountability for patient outcomes, quality care, and decreased costs."
According to Haselkorn, the far reach of telehealth can improve an organization's market position in the following five ways:
1. Reaching new patients
Rural or community hospitals receiving remote, specialty consults from other health delivery systems will be able to expand the scope of patient services offered, Haselkorn said. For example, if the emergency department of a rural hospital is able to tap into a specialist via an audiovisual connection, the rural hospital will be able to mitigate unnecessary patient transfers to more advanced facilities. In addition, the delivery system providing the consult will be able to reach a broader geographic swath of patients and potentially pull in more referrals.
2. Engaging existing patients more heavily
In today's post-reform world, healthcare providers must not only attract new patients, but optimize the patient's journey along the care continuum, bridging their home, clinic, hospital, rehabilitation and recovery. As performance-based payment incentives and penalties unfold over the next few years, providers that don't change their strategy to accommodate value-driven payment incentives will be challenged to maintain market share and profitability. Telehealth can serve as the link between disparate components of the care continuum, involving patients in their care more continuously while boosting clinical quality and bringing financial rewards.
3. New business models
Under new payment models, such as risk-sharing agreements, quality-based payments or patient-centered medical home models, telehealth services can fuel new revenue sources. For example, health delivery systems may contract with state plans to provide telehealth services to high-risk patients as part of shared savings incentives. In addition, remote monitoring may be used to avoid readmissions and their corresponding financial penalties. Finally, by contracting directly with employers to provide virtual care to employees, healthcare providers may attain a new revenue stream, said Haselkorn. The business model between the provider and the receiver can vary. For example, in telestroke networks, monthly contracts or per-consult fees can apply.
4. Increasing physician productivity
Networks that extend the reach of key specialists help lock in patients in the primary market and carve inroads to secondary markets. These virtual services represent the type of care redesign necessary to scale the physician workforce over larger populations. For example, using video consults between cardiologists and remote patients enables a dramatic increase in productivity compared to traditional cardiology outreach programs.
5. Brand and competitive position
The consumer market is ready for convenient, technology-enabled access to care, and the rest of the provider market is getting on board. Healthcare providers that are capable of satisfying demands, like sending text message reminders to complete health-related tasks, will be able to capture patients, and the next generation of physicians.
