Question

Analyze the role of the regulatory environment in adoption of telehealth. Defend this role or devise a different alternative.

Answer 1

Ans) Telehealth challenges-credentialing and privileging:
- Credentialing is the process of establishing the qualifications of licensed professionals and assessing their background and legitimacy.

- Once a practitioner is credentialed, the hospital will take further steps to assess the practitioner's competence in a specific area of patient care, through a process known as privileging.

- Telehealth continues to grow in scope, along with improved quality assurance of its services. Much like the standardization of information technology, telehealth remains an evolving area for effective delivery of care with standardized information sharing.

- Licensing for telehealth remains a multilayered effort with state-by-state inconsistencies that have restricted the wide application of telemedicine or telepharmacy. Standardized legal and/or regulatory frameworks remain elusive. Re imbursement typically follows a clear legal framework using strategies to support appropriate use of telehealth in delivering care.

- The lack of clarity in the law creates inconsistent reimbursement by payers to care providers. Ultimately, a clear legal framework is required if re imbursement dilemmas are to be solved.

- Information technology and system interconnectivity for record sharing across providers—physician, pharmacy, laboratories, and hospital systems—are necessary to ensure appropriate care. Technology development along with appropriate utilization of telehealth platforms continues at a rapid pace, driven in part by the ongoing implementation of the PPACA.

- The increased chronic care burden in all cross-sections of the U.S. continues to pressure the health care delivery system to use innovative approaches and technology, such as telehealth, to provide cost-efficient care. Because remote pharmaceutical management or telepharmacy applications lag behind other telehealth services, the value of these services needs to be demonstrated through economic and clinical assessments in real-world settings. The cost-efficiency of telehealth, along with its ability to deliver easier access to timely medical or pharmaceutical care, proposes a unique value proposition. Determining that value remains to be done.