Long before the recent influx of telehealth usage due to the COVID-19 pandemic, physicians at First Choice Neurology had been using healow TeleVisits™ to bring quality care to their patients.

Recognizing the mind-body link

Medical providers have long understood there are close ties between physical and emotional health. At least among Western medical researchers, the first forays into the link between mind and body took place more than a century ago, as described in this article from the Minnesota State Medical Association.

For the last two years, providers at SG Pediatrics have been successfully using healow TeleVisits™ to see patients from home. So when the need for social distancing arose, they already had the tools in place to move all of their appointments online.

healow Telehealth Solutions offer providers more

As the number of cases of coronavirus continues to climb throughout the U.S. and the world, so too does the number of physicians and patients using telehealth solutions. For many healthcare visits — including primary and specialty care, follow-up visits, and quick check-in appointments — telehealth is proving to be an effective tool in promoting quality care during a time of crisis.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, practices are looking for an effective way to treat patients without having them physically come into the office. For Comprehensive Sleep Center, a practice located in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, healow TeleVisits™ have been that option – the practice completely switching to TeleVisits within three days of activation.

Coronavirus is the latest case in point

The resurgence of telehealth amid the coronavirus pandemic is a reminder of the lifesaving role that remote delivery of medical services has always played.

Whether for reducing the risk of infection, delivering care to remote places, or helping with recovery from natural disasters, telehealth is once more proving its value as a critical part of the worldwide healthcare ecosystem.

The rules of the telehealth game may have changed, but you still want to play by the right rules. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights recently announced the waiver of certain penalties for noncompliance with HIPAA regulations.

South Florida practice shows the way

During the coronavirus pandemic, medical practices across the nation have been sounding an urgent note — “Get me telemedicine, stat!”

Just how quickly can a practice get up and running with an industry-leading telehealth solution such as healow TeleVisits™?

Very quickly.

A South Florida endocrinology practice using eClinicalWorks, Palm Beach Thyroid and Endocrinology Wellness, enabled TeleVisits on Monday, March 16. Just two days later, Dr. Anna Frish was able to report that 80% of the practice’s daily visits were being conducted online.

On March 4, 2020, Congress appropriated $8.3 billion through the “Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020,” to combat the public health threats posed by the spread of coronavirus. The legislation includes $500 million allowing Health and Human Services to temporarily waive certain Medicare restrictions and requirements regarding telehealth services during the coronavirus public health emergency.

It’s the last game of the season. The floodlights turn on – illuminating the crisp autumn sky and revealing the compact emerald turf. As you sit on the locker room bench, you hear the other high school students stamping their feet on the metal bleachers in anticipation. You stand up and rush through the tunnel, the nervous euphoria that was in your stomach now an all-encompassing focus on the game.

The whistle blows, you get the ball, your opponent comes directly for you. You shimmy to the left. They saw it coming. BAM! You’re on the ground. Waves of pain circulate from your thumb. Your coach tells you to wrap it. Later, when you take the bandage off, your thumb is more swollen than it had been before. The minute you see the doctor in the emergency room, they look at it and ask why you wrapped up your hand for a broken bone.

The doctor was able to determine how to treat the injury in seconds by simply looking at the hand. If the coach had access to a telehealth solution, a doctor could have determined what to do quickly and accurately. Utilizing telehealth for sports is just one application for this increasingly useful technology.

How do you provide care to underserved patients who have difficulty getting to the office? This was the challenge we were trying to solve at The Clark Clinic. Some of our patients don’t have access to a vehicle or are physically restricted and unable to travel far. But, as most of our community is underserved, we needed to collectively identify a solution to ensure we can serve all our patients.

Telemedicine is transforming healthcare by making optimal use of healthcare resources. By providing an in-office experience remotely, healow TeleVisits lets providers deliver the same high-quality medicine while letting patients experience the comfort and convenience of being at home or on the road. Not every medical encounter requires a physical office visit, and TeleVisits are ideal for pre-op consultations, quick post-op checkups, and many routine encounters. Secure and fully integrated into the eClinicalWorks EHR, TeleVisits are making care easier and more efficient.

The thousands of eClinicalWorks customers who came to Nashville this weekend expected to hear about improvements to the core EHR, see some new products and services, renew friendships, and have some fun.

Two converging trends

When you step back and look at long-term trends in medicine, some things seem obvious. The use of telemedicine to better serve pediatric patients with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is such a case.

While mental restlessness has been a part of human behavior throughout history, it is only in recent decades that medical professionals have discerned a treatable difference between individuals who sometimes have trouble focusing and others, including many children, who have the disorder known as ADHD.