Editor’s note: This commentary is by Norm Ward, M.D., who is chief medical officer for OneCare Vermont Accountable Care Organization and executive medical director for Accountable Care Services at the University of Vermont Medical Center. He continues to treat patients at South Burlington Family Practice.
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, businesses, schools, and even doctor’s offices closed to slow the spread of the coronavirus responsible for the loss of life worldwide. To support the health and well-being of people across the country, health insurers reacted quickly, paying at parity or near-parity for both audio/video and audio-only health care visits.
The Covid-19 pandemic has pushed the use of virtual health services forward to meet the needs of patients sheltering at home. Both patients and providers find these visits essential to the continuation of health care services during the public health emergency. In industry parlance, these virtual visits are called “telemedicine” or “telehealth.”
Telehealth is on the rise in Vermont communities. In a recent statewide survey conducted by OneCare Vermont, health care providers overwhelmingly responded that they are providing telehealth services to patients during the public health emergency.
Telehealth is not a new invention. In fact, the technology has been available for decades. But before the pandemic caused a compulsory shift in the way we deliver health care, the use of telehealth had been limited.
We have a unique opportunity to leverage telehealth to increase health access after the pandemic – a key component of health equity and health care reform. Imagine a patient whose access to transportation is unreliable, or who is unable to find a primary care provider accepting new patients near their home. We live in a rural state with a demographically older patient population. Winter storms (and even spring floods) can make travel difficult or impossible.
Health care workers in Vermont strongly support the use of telehealth services, including telephone-only services for those patients without video capability. Eighty-two percent said “yes” when asked whether telephone-only services should continue to be reimbursed post Covid-19. When asked about their experience, providers shared many benefits of telemedicine that continue beyond the pandemic, and said that telehealth is particularly well suited to behavioral health visits, chronic disease management, and medication management.
If health care is a priority and caring for patients a necessity, telehealth can help bridge the gap, now and in the future. But there is still more we can do. In the survey, providers across Vermont emphasized the need for improved broadband and cellular service to enable essential connectivity with their patients and revealed a clear need for increased data literacy. Eighty-six percent of respondents perceived that a lack of technical understanding, support or comfort was a barrier for their patients to access telehealth.
