|
You must be signed-in with your registered username and password to post a reply.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Author |
| Posts |
Sort:
|
|
ABoghani
Member Since:
27 Jul 2006
Posts:2
|
|
27 Jul 2006 5:19 PM |
0 have marked this post as Insightful
|
|
|
Telemedicine is often defined as “use of telecommunications technology for medical diagnosis and patient care when the provider and client are separated by distance.” Another definition is “the use of audio, video, and other telecommunications and electronic information processing technologies to provide health services or assist health care personnel at distant sites.” Irrespective of the exact definition, there is general belief that telemedicine is poised to create a significant impact on the way patients are diagnosed, monitored and treated.
That is the conventional wisdom and there is no reason to dispute it.
However, it is not clear exactly how the “game will be played out”. The technology may be accessible, but the various players involved in healthcare (doctors, patients, hospitals, payors) may have some reservations about adopting it and standards that would allow seamless integration may not exist (e.g., physicians having global versus state specific licenses). There are many differing agendas and several barriers. To further complicate the matter, the future development of telemedicine will depend on many factors (e.g., reimbursement policy, privacy issues, broadband availability, etc.) some within the control of its stakeholders and some not within their control.
Predicting how telemedicine will develop, its implications, and the best ways to respond is similar to constructing a jigsaw puzzle. The Monitor Group, in partnership with Financial Times, has initiated a program to help senior members of the stakeholder community put these pieces together to produce a clear picture and actionable results. As a first step in this program was a workshop we conducted at the Monitor’s facility in May of this year. The output of the workshop is summarized in "Telemedicine: scenarios and implications" document (click here).
Of many points of discussion at the workshop, the following three stood out as most interesting, worthy of a continued dialog:
• Key Factors: There are two important factors influencing the evolution of Telemedicine: (i) disruptive events from either demand or supply side, and (ii) the way reimbursement for Telemedicine evolves, both from the government payors (CMS) or private insurance companies. Any plan for exploiting the opportunities created by Telemedicine will need to include process for keeping a close watch on these uncertainties and be able to react.
• Uncertainties: There are other uncertainties and barriers facing Telemedicine. Several structural problems need to be addressed. For example, the issue with licensure of doctors practicing remotely, or of liability associated with a health provider in a far away country making mistakes, need to be examined and solved. There are privacy issues and those associated with broadband availability. The sensor technology has to be improved to a level that they become reliable and fully credible. Remote monitoring can not work without them. However, none of these are deemed to be “show stoppers.”
• Tipping Point: We are close to a tipping point in the adoption of Telemedicine. The proximate cause for the tipping point could be the fact that the Generation Y is starting to take over…not only as consumers, but soon also as healthcare providers. An entry into the fray by a major corporation could also serve as a tipping point, whether it is one of the brand name supporters of healthcare (Intel, GE healthcare, Motorola) making a more substantial commitment, or a new and powerful company (Google, Microsoft, or a Wal-Mart) joining the game. The aging Baby Boomers can make a big difference: Telemedicine provides a nice solution to remotely monitor their aging parents or taking care of themselves in retirement. A major change in the reimbursement policy (CMS agrees to reimburse) can provide the push, so can a pandemic that stretches the already tight shortage of health care providers to its limits.
So now here are the questions:
1. In your opinion, is Telemedicine at the tipping point yet? If not, when do you see it happening? Caused by what factor(s)?
2. What can seriously derail the march of Telemedicine? Can we do something about it?
3. Is the word Telemedicine destined to fade out as it becomes an inseparable part of the fabric of the way of managing health and providing healthcare? Or, like solar power, it is destined to be always the technology of the future?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Collaboration
Member Since:
27 Jul 2006
Posts:1
|
|
27 Jul 2006 10:31 PM |
0 have marked this post as Insightful
|
|
|
1. I believe we are at a tipping point due to the economics of healthcare and the movement towards consumerism.
2. The key barrier to overcome is reimbursement. If it becomes part of the consumer-driven channel of purchases, I believe doctors and hospitals will create a wider network directly with their consumers.
3. I definitely see it become an extension of routine care as opposed to a separate line of healthcare. It will be a tool for providers to deliver care to their patients.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
walterblass
Member Since:
28 Jul 2006
Posts:1
|
|
28 Jul 2006 2:26 PM |
0 have marked this post as Insightful
|
|
|
I have been teaching an INSEAD case about telemedicine at Hopital de Paris in France. This case deals with a new protocol to eliminate wasteful and unnecessary transport of neurosurgery patients from the larger Paris cachement area to a single hospital where they specialize in neurosurgery. The senior neurosurgeon comes up with this idea in the middle 1980's that no referrals are to be made without an 18-page history, lab results, MRI/Xray and so forth; in return they promise an answer within 15 minutes. The result of this after 2 years is a total reversal of the 80% 'reject' rate, that is patients returned to their original hospital without any treatment. So the idea is a good one, but uniformly the doctors involved dislike the new system. The task of the reader ( MBA student) is to identify why there is this constant theme of rejection.
I find that the average MBA student, even a student who have had hospital experience, fails to graps the "human" side of the questions, prestige, self-image, responsibility to patient's family, legal aspects, etc. Clayt Christensen has written quite widely on this topic in his writings on "Disruptive Technology" ( see his name and that title in the Harvard Business School website --www.hbsp.harvard.edu ; access to the site is free, but case cost about $7 each)
The case itself is copyrighted and is called " Telemedicine-Hopital AP-HP" and is obtainable from www.ecch.cranfield.ac.uk , a website that will automatically refer you to Babson University in the Boston suburbs. I think many of you would find it useful.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
anagupte
Member Since:
07 Aug 2006
Posts:1
|
|
07 Aug 2006 2:38 PM |
0 have marked this post as Insightful
|
|
|
In addition to the trigger points mentioned above, a few specific factors that could accelerate the adoption of telemedicine
- technology and interoperable data standards evolve to a point where clinical data obtained in a clinical setting can be usefully integrated with clinical data accessed through remote monitoring in a non-clinical setting as well as claims based personal health record data for superior healthcare cost, quality and outcomes.
- Adoption and reimbursement of allied technologies such as online physician-patient visits increases with a clear value-add from remote monitoring data in the delivery of care
- Consumerism in healthcare gets to a point where patients are even more increasingly involved in their care and treatment decisions, and the adoption of member claims-based PHRs gets to a critical mass.
- The health economic case is clearly made for lower healthcare cost, superior quality and outcomes with the integration of telemedicine into the healthcare paradigm; specific conditions lend themselves to this more than others
- the clinical trial setting (in addition to elder care mentioned above) could be a way for drug and biotech companies to accelerate the adoption of telemedicine in partnership with medical technology players such GE Healthcare, Phillips etc, as into more routine care settings
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
You must be signed-in with your registered username and password to post a reply.
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Asimov Moment
|
|
"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discovery, is not 'Eureka' (I found it!), but 'That's funny...' " - Isaac Asimov.
|
* Please enter an Asimov
|
|
|
Please Note: Asimov submissions will be reviewed by moderator before posting.
|
|
Seen
|
One man's spam is another man's art. I saw this article about a computer artist who took unwanted spam emails and created art based ...
|
|
|
|