Telehealth in Delaware State

Introduction

There have been many times that everybody keeps on hearing how the internet and technology have transformed and improved our modern daily lives. It has indeed changed how we stay in touch with our families and even how we communicate with each other in addition to the basic things of purchasing goods and services. There are now available platforms on the internet where you can search for information on the different health problems. This has therefore brought to the technology being amalgamated in the health sector through telehealth. There exist a variety of various tools to help in managing your health care and in receiving medical services through your mobile phone. This has revolutionized the world of health, making it easy and convenient for patients to access their health information and services from the comfort of their homes and even remote areas. It’s also significant and essential to the health providers since they can offer outreach services and add knowledge on their health matters and relevant fields

Telehealth refers to the use of digitalized communication and info technology, such as mobile gadgets and computers, to gain admission to healthcare services remotely and achieve personal healthcare. They include the technology that may be utilized from home or used by the physician to help advance medical care services (Bardes, 2009).

Current Uses of Telehealth

According to the State of Delaware Telemedicine services, telehealth means the utilization of communication and information technology which entails remote patient monitoring gadgets or other electronic means and telephones that support medical health care, public health, provider consultation, professional and patient medical associated education and any other health services (Browning, 2019).

The State of Delaware considered the need to improve its health system by adopting and using technology and training to enhance; access to specialty care, management of chronic diseases, and access to behavioral health services. This was an aim to enable health providers to use technology for purposes of education and clinical needs. Telehealth guides these improvements in Delaware Vision. Patients will be wholly incorporated in the health care system of Delaware to enhance equitable access to world-class, patient-centered, and affordable health care throughout the State. This shows the significance of telehealth’s adoption and utilization through its main objective being to facilitate and enhance the use of telehealth in the improvement of access towards quality healthcare by patients in the whole of Delaware, especially in the remote areas.

Telemedicine refers to a type of telehealth that entails delivering medical care services through the means of an actual two way visual, audio, and any other electronic or telecommunications. This may also include; store and forward technology transfer, use of safe video conferencing to offer, and provide medical care service delivery (American Telemedicine Association, 2015). Through this, there will be consistent assessment, treatment, diagnosis, care management, consultation, and self-management of a patient’s medical care by a clinician practicing within their scope of practice as it would happen with the actual person or patient. Also, lawfully permitted to practice in the State, while such patient stands at an originating site and health care worker is at a distant location.

Solutions of Telehealth in Delaware

Telehealth has been able to offer solutions that are in use even in current times to empower the State’s health sector

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It provided health care access to persons in remote and rural areas. Since a considerable number of healthcare providers and hospitals in the small populated regions within the State have continued to close down yearly. This has led to inconveniences to patients making them wait for a long time to access health care or even long-distance traveling in search of doctors. Telehealth solutions have in considerably changed the situation by giving a chance to a rural hospital to remain operational and improve its services through the telehealth technology, which is inclusive of remote diabetes monitoring programs.

Access to quick diagnoses and after-hours consultations. For a patient in Delaware, a visit with a nurse or medical practitioner virtually results in a visual diagnosis of notable symptoms, which offers the patient the go-ahead to treatment. Therefore, this primarily eliminates the need for an office visit, especially from contagious diseases or infections. In Louisiana, there exists an after-hours clinic that gives video consultations with pediatricians, with the ability to assess signs and symptoms of a child and determine whether there is a need for admission.

Real-time medication management. The problem of many patients fails to adhere to doctor’s orders and instructions concerning prescribed medications. The health providers are faced with the challenge of follow up. Thus, the mobile health app has made it easier for medical practitioners to ensure and monitor their patients are at per with their appropriate medications.

Increase in professional medical collaboration. In the event of diseases such as chronic diseases that encompass the vast symptoms. In the Parkinson’s Clinic at the University of Delaware, telehealth technology is playing a vital role and supporting to assemble an ideal roster of Parkinson’s health care providers under one roof. Which even includes several other experts in other states but can be connected and linked together.

Incorporation of medical specialists in prison health care initiatives. Correctional institutions have healthcare systems that face the challenge of treating substance abuse, chronic diseases, and mental health due to safety and security issues. In Delaware, the Corrections Department’s adoption of telehealth has enhanced the safety concerns of numerous medical practitioners and contributed to essential savings in security and transport expenses.

Increased access to chronic condition management. The management of many chronic diseases, such as heart diseases and asthma, entails adherence to lifestyle changes and drug regimens by the patients. In the Nemours Children Hospitals in Delaware, children and parents can utilize the telehealth-based app on asthma to share their disease management plan and access. There is also the availability of a 911 in case of an emergency, which provides directions to the nearest hospital.

The above activities and solutions have been made possible by the various telehealth systems that have been installed and operational by the Delaware State. They include, Electronic Health Record (EHR), Electronic Medical Record (EMR), Home Health Care and Remote Monitoring Systems are some of the telehealth systems that help in the operations.

In recent times the Delaware Medical board has tightened up the regulations on telemedicine. This is by issuing current guidelines regarding the telemedicine and telehealth, and banning phone-based and asynchronous services while also allowing virtual care for numerous specific treatment programs for opioid. This is key in enhancing that the practice standards are adhered to concerning the Medical Practice Act. This is a course of action on the telemedicine policy guidelines: the use of technology in connected care to establish a strong patient-doctor relationship and the incorporation of telemedicine in the new abuse of substance programs in the States plan to handle opioid abuse widespread.

Advantages in the Use of Telehealth

There is a personalized patient portal in primary clinical care through the online patient portal. These portals are alternatives to emails, which are generally perceived as insecure as a means of communication in disclosing personal medical information. This gives the chance to communicate with medical practitioners, and if your medical clinician is absent, it offers a variety of other doctors.

The existence of virtual appointments.  Clinics can be able to offer virtual clinical appointments which enhance the ability to meet your doctor or nurse through videoconferencing on an online platform (Waller & Stotler, 2018). There is the availability of a one on one question and answer session between the patient and doctor, whereby the practitioner offers guidance through prescribed queries.

Accessibility of remote monitoring.  The availability of telehealth has enabled doctors and nurses to offer remote health monitoring for their patients. A variety of technologies have enabled doctors or medical care teams to monitor and assess health remotely.

Communication among doctors has been enabled. The doctors have been offered the advantage of communicating with each other to enhance better care for their patients. Through telehealth, virtual consultation allows primary care medical practitioners to access advice and information from specialists in case of a question regarding any treatment or diagnosis (Drolet et al. 2017). Telehealth has helped eliminate unnecessary movements and reduce waiting times for other specialists’ contributions.

Quick access to personal health records. There has been the existence of fast access and retrieval of health records, especially the patient’s medical history. An electronic private health record system referred to as the PHR system includes a collection of data about the health of a patient that you maintain or control. This app is accessible at all times via devices with webs (Drolet et al. 2017).

Disadvantages of Telehealth

Telehealth holds a high potential for better-coordinated care; it also begets the risk of fragmenting medical care through the overuse of medical care. This can be possible for easy access to medical attention at any time.

Contribution to inappropriate use of medications. This can lack adherence to the proper instructions due to the limited concentration of electronic devices by several patients since the doctor doesn’t have the total control of the patient’s behavior.

The presence of overlapping or unnecessary care. This is contributed to the fact that there may lack consistency in the patient’s health management due to the varied appearance of different medical practitioners.

Future Recommendations

The potential that is held by technology to improve health care quality can offer more secure means that cannot be disrupted by cybercrimes.

Telemonitoring services should be developed to ensure that the medical in information and data of patients is safe and secure from any unauthorized access.

The States should ensure that there are laws and regulations set to prosecute any persons found tampering or unlawfully hacking or accessing the telehealth services.

There should also be enhanced capabilities to ensure there is the ability to track the accessibilities of the logins concerning the different information and health care software systems.

Summary

Telehealth has been regarded as one of the most and recent significant developments in the health care field since it has changed the working and operations of the health sector in Delaware state. Telehealth mainly refers to the use of electronic devices and the internet to enhance health care to the patients and be used among medical practitioners. The Delaware State has therefore adopted telehealth to be able to improve the health care of its citizens in general and even to offer a chance to those in the rural and remote areas to be able to access medical health. The State of Delaware has therefore established different telehealth systems such as the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) for the improved access of patient’s medical health history without the burden of manual retrieval. Telehealth guides these improvements in Delaware Vision that states; patients will be completely incorporated in the health care system of Delaware to enhance equitable access to world-class, patient-centered, and affordable health care throughout the State. This shows the significance of the adoption and utilization of telehealth through its main objective being to facilitate and enhance the use of telemedicine in the improvement of access towards quality healthcare by patients in the whole of Delaware, especially in the remote areas.

Telehealth is also associated with many advantages in terms of; improved access of health care to patients, personalized remote monitoring, access of information among doctors for improved efficiency, virtual appointments saving transport costs, and even quick retrieval of safely stored patient medical information. There are also limitations, including exposure to the hacking of individual medical information by hackers, the abuse of medical care available through devices by overusing, and even overlapping responsibility.

Finally, telehealth can improve and continue advancing since there are always significant advancements in technology. Thus, there should be enhanced security and more encrypted software systems to enhance data security to protect patient’s privacy. Also, there should be laws to help sue those who unlawfully engage in unauthorized access to the telehealth systems enacted by the State.

References

American Telemedicine Association. (2015). What is telemedicine? 2014. URL: http://www. americantelemed. org/main/about/telehealth-faqs-[accessed 2017-10-31][WebCite Cache].

Bardes, C. L. (2009). Defining “patient-centered medicine.” Health Aff (Millwood), 28(4), w555-w565.

Browning, A. (2019). 2020 Mid-Atlantic Telehealth Resource Center Annual Summit. International Journal of Telerehabilitation, 11(2), 33.

Drolet, B. C., Marwaha, J. S., Hyatt, B., Blazar, P. E., & Lifchez, S. D. (2017). Electronic communication of protected health information: privacy, security, and HIPAA compliance. The Journal of hand surgery, 42(6), 411-416.

Sikka, N., Combs, D., Lum, N., & Curry, K. E. (2020). Layperson Telepresenters: Increasing Capacity for Telehealth in Underserved Communities. Telemedicine and e-Health.

Waller, M., & Stotler, C. (2018). Telemedicine: a primer. Current Allergy and asthma reports, 18(10), 54.