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April 2014 Newsletter
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Why patient-centered care will naturally
move toward telemedicine
By Ashley Gold | FierceHealthIT | April 10, 2014
 In the future, will telemedicine become just as ordinary and common as video chatting a relative or friend who's far away? As care becomes more patient-centered, "Father of Telemedicine" Jay Sanders, M.D., believes that will be the case.
Sanders, former president of the American Telemedicine Association, in an interview with EHRIntelligence, said that not only will telemedicine change the way patients and doctors connect, it also will revolutionize the way clinicians interact with patients, in general.
"What the present technology affords the physician is an ability to better evaluate their patient in the patient setting, not in the doctor setting," Sanders said, pointing out that, for example, taking a patient's blood pressure in a doctor's office doesn't make sense. Rather, he said, it should be taken at the patient's home or at work.
And it goes way beyond reaching patients in rural areas, Sanders said. "What we have come to learn, in the same way that we universally use our smartphones wherever we are, that this technology not only has a need, but a very clear practical application throughout the socioeconomic, geographic spectrum of our society," he said.
With regard to the "patchwork" of state regulations and licensing rules preventing telemedicine growth, Sanders said that telemedicine has "shined a light" on the need to reform old-fashioned laws and regulations that prevent doctors from practicing in multiple states.
In the future, he said, he hopes the idea of the exam room being where a patient lives and works will be understood worldwide.
A bill introduced to Congress in December--the Telehealth Modernization Act--seeks to establish a federal definition of telehealth and clear up the confusion from myriad state policies.
That same month, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced that changes to Medicare's 2014 physician fee schedule would incrementally expand coverage for telehealth services.
A call for common language is needed, too; a recent study published in Telemedicine and e-Health explores seven unique definitions of telehealth in current use across the U.S. government.
To learn more:
- read the full interview at EHRIntelligence
Source: FierceHealthIT
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So, we've got a Telemedicine program...now what?
 Telemedicine is changing the way hospitals operate - providing an efficient, cost-effective way for facilities to offer specialty care to patients, regardless of location, population, or on-site resources. As a result, more and more rural hospitals and clinics are now offering this benefit to their communities.
The question now is, how do we communicate with potential users? How do we educate our local population, staff, and board members about the benefits of a Telemedicine program?
Fortunately, there are a number of resources available to assist in the development of a comprehensive Telemedicine marketing plan, even if you have limited marketing experience.
One of the best guides was created by the California Telehealth Resource Center. "Developing a Telehealth Marketing Plan: A Step by Step Guide," is a comprehensive 24-page PDF booklet for non-marketing professionals to develop and implement a professional marketing strategy for their telehealth program.
From the Introduction:
- This Marketing Plan is designed as a template that can be easily taken and adopted to suit the needs of a hospital or clinic which is the recipient of telehealth services that it can provide to its community.
- There are multiple ways to put together a marketing plan. Some plans can go into a lot of traditional market research and analysis such as segmentation, targeting, positioning, the 4 P's (product, price, place, promotion), etc.
- This plan does not take that approach because it can be too complicated and time consuming for professionals whose primary job is not actually marketing, but who need to generate and execute effective marketing strategies to drive telehealth awareness, increase its utilization, enhance its reputation, and ultimately drive growth.
- So instead, we opted for a clear, simple way to help someone like a telemedicine director develop a marketing plan.
- The plan assumes that XYZ regional Medical center has already gotten approval to start a telehealth program. therefore, the marketing plan is (and should be) but one major element of the broader plan for successfully implementing the telehealth program.
- This plan template is designed to help someone explain what they plan to do from a marketing perspective, why they want to do it, and how they will measure the results.
- Someone could essentially take the goals, target audiences, marketing activities, success metrics, and economics in this plan; customize these for their particular situation, and have a marketing plan ready to go.
Access the full PDF document online here.
Remember, you are not in this alone! Your WCTN Telemedicine team is here to help with every stage of marketing and education for your Telemedicine program. Please let us know how we can help you, whether it be physical resources, training, on-site meetings or events, or anything else. We're here to make your Telemedicine program succeed!
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 Megan Canter
Director of Telemedicine
HCA Continental Division
4900 S Monaco Street, Suite 380
Denver, CO 80237-3487
303-788-2568 (ofc)
303-717-9995 (cell)
Megan.Canter@HCAHealthcare.com
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