COVID-19 has presented healthcare with a challenge like no other, with nearly nine million cases all over the world and over 470,000 lives lost. The speed of the outbreak and the disruption caused by it has created unforeseen challenges for communities and economies, and it’s especially apparent in healthcare delivery. Healthcare systems in nations around the globe have dedicated substantial resources to respond to the pandemic and the growth has only somewhat stymied.
While the U.S.
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Virtual Healthcare | News, Analysis, Insights - HIT Consultant
Virtual Behavioral Health Could Reduce Costs, Improve Patient Outcomes, Report Finds
What You Should Know:
- A new Accenture report called “Breakthrough Behavioral
Health Access: Think Virtual” finds that the use of virtual behavioral health could
expand care for more than 53 million Americans facing these conditions.
- Demand for behavioral health specialists significantly outweighs current availability; in addition to severe wait times of 25 days for first clinical appointments, we are projected to have a shortage of 250,000 behavioral health and mental health
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Central Maine Healthcare, Innovaccer Partner to Power Data-driven Telehealth Capabilities
What You Should Know:
- Innovaccer has recently partnered with Central Maine
Healthcare (CMH), an integrated healthcare delivery system that serves over
400,000 people in the central, western, and mid-coast regions of the state, to
connect providers with their patients through data-driven telehealth, powered
by its FHIR-enabled Data Activation Platform.
- The care delivery system will conduct data-enabled
virtual visits to assist its providers with efficient, remote care amid
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Call to Action: Restrictions Around Virtual Health Can’t Go Back to “Normal”
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government has passed several stimulus packages with the goal of helping employers keep their business in operation while office volume is down and, in some cases, practices are physically closed. The CARES Act, which included the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Provider Relief Fund, for example, has provided some relief to eligible healthcare providers, including low-interest rate loans to help providers pay staff salaries, rent, and other
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Virtually or In-Person, Automation Improves The Healthcare Experience
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an unprecedented shift in the way consumers view and access a variety of goods and services—and healthcare is no exception. Recent studies show that many patients, including vulnerable populations like those living with cancer, are delaying recommended care and procedures—and will continue to do so for at least several months amid fears over the safety of in-person visits. In response, reports of providers adapting to offer care virtually are all the more
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Curavi Health, CarePointe, U.S. Health Systems Merge to Form Arkos Health to Power Virtual Care for Seniors
Curavi Health, CarePointe, U.S. Health Systems announced a merger agreement to form Arkos Health. Arkos Health will provide virtual care solutions and health insights to vulnerable populations across the United States. These three entities will become wholly-owned subsidiaries of Arkos Health, and the executive leadership teams will be merged. UPMC will continue to own a financial stake in Arkos Health, while remaining both a customer and service provider.
CarePointe, founded in 2015 and
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Health in Motion Network, Updox Integrate to Improve Pharmacy Care Amid COVID-19 Pandemic
What You Should Know:
- Health in Motion Network announced a partnership with Updox to integrate its HIPAA-compliant virtual health software into the Health in Motion Network’s consumer-direct pharmacy platform, ERxDirect.
- ERxDirect powered by Updox uniquely connects local
health care, community pharmacies and urgent care centers with the innovation
they need to remotely communicate with patients, which has become more
essential than ever due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- By partnering
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COVID-19 Has Permanently Shifted Patient Behavior Towards Virtual Care
What You Should Know:
- The COVID-19 crisis has significantly impacted the
patient care paradigm, and the ripple effects have altered patient behaviors
and expectations, requiring a significant change in how life sciences companies
engage with and support patients
- Accenture surveyed 2700 patients about changes in care
during COVID-19 and found a major shift to virtual care, which patients
embraced.
- Virtual care is here to stay and can be an integral
part of the patient experience
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Philips and BioIntelliSense Integrate to Enhance Remote Patient Monitoring
What You Should Know:
- Philips integrates the BioIntelliSense FDA-cleared
BioSticker™ sensor as part of its remote patient monitoring solutions for
patients outside the hospital.
- Multi-parameter sensors aid monitoring across multiple chronic conditions with medical-grade vital signs for physicians to remotely track core symptoms, including COVID-19.
- Healthcare Highways is the first to leverage the BioSticker sensor as a part of Philips’ RPM program in the U.S.
Philips,
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Post COVID-19: 3 Things I Hope Healthcare Won’t Recover From
The loss of lives and livelihoods from COVID-19 is almost too much to comprehend. And yet, slowly, conversations are emerging about the positives percolating from the pandemic.
It’s human nature to want to look for the positives in even the worst of situations, and I’ve noticed that in both my personal and my professional circles of late, people are talking about the things they hope we don’t lose when things go back to “normal.”
Chief among them, especially in my healthcare technology
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