1st Edition

Telehealth in Rural Hospitals Lessons Learned from Pennsylvania

By CJ Rhoads Copyright 2016
    336 Pages 79 B/W Illustrations
    by Productivity Press

    336 Pages
    by Productivity Press

    Improving the quality of healthcare, while increasing accessibility and lowering costs, is a complex dilemma facing rural communities around the world. The Center for Rural Pennsylvania believed that telehealth, the use of electronic information and telecommunications technologies to support long-distance clinical healthcare was a viable solution so it recently provided grants to conduct a thorough investigation into the factors involved.

    Telehealth in Rural Hospitals: Lessons Learned from Pennsylvania
    reports the outcome of this year-long investigation. Illustrating telehealth implementations in rural settings, it supplies an overview of telehealth as well as an assessment of its economic impact.

    The book skillfully intertwines the research and academic aspects of telehealth with helpful insights from the author. One of the most important discoveries made by the author and her team of researchers is that all too often money is wasted by implementing telehealth for services that don't impact many people. This book shares valuable insights on using telehealth for integrative health practices that could improve the health of a greater portion of the population.

    This book illustrates how telehealth can, indeed, be the healthcare savior that some people believe it will be, but only under the right circumstances. It details exactly what those circumstances are so that everyone, including clinicians, patients, government entities, and vendors, can steer toward the best future path.

    The author identifies the obstacles preventing wider implementation of telehealth and explains how recent federal legislation will affect telehealth implementation in rural communities. She also points out the folly of developing electronic health records before federal data standards are put into place.

    The book concludes by detailing best practices and lessons learned for implementing a telehealth program in any state. It also outlines helpful recommendations for health systems providing healthcare services in rural communities.

    Introduction
    Telehealth Research Team
    Why You Should Read This Book
    Why Rural Communities?
    Complications of the Project: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
    Goals of the Project
    Changes in the Healthcare System
    Need for Project to Assess Telehealth

    Cut to the Chase
    Begin with the End in Mind
    What Is Telehealth?
    Methods of the Project
    Our Conclusions
    Unexpected Results
    Recommendations for Change
    Conclusion Summary

    What about Healthcare?
    What We Already Know about Healthcare
    History of Healthcare in the United States
    Research on Healthcare in Rural Areas
    Research on Healthcare Decision Making
    Healthcare Challenges in the United States
    Healthcare Reform in the United States
    Summary of Healthcare Research

    What about Telehealth?
    Research on Telehealth
    Brief Historical Background of Telehealth
    Telehealth Cases and Projects: Focus on Prevention and Wellness
    Best Practices of Telehealth
    Impact of Volume on Telehealth
    Growth of Telehealth
    Proposed Solutions to Telehealth Obstacles
    Role of the State and Federal Government

    How We Did the Project
    Project Details
    Impact of Legislative Changes during Project
    Refining the Definition of Telehealth
    Definition of Rural County
    How We Did the Search of the Literature
    Interview Phases and Methods
    Survey Methods
    Cost Impact Methodology

    Macro Analysis: A Better Approach
    The Cost Impact of Telehealth
    Telehealth Program Impact Scenarios for Years 1, 5, and 20
    Analysis Methods of Survey Data

    What We Found Was Surprising
    Telehealth Project Results
    Survey Results
    Interview Results
    Telehealth Initiatives in Rural Counties

    The Cost of Healthcare—With Telehealth
    The Challenge
    Time Frame of Data
    Source of Data and Healthcare Cost Estimates
    Future Cost of Health Based upon Modality
    Limitations of the Economic Cost Model and Research

    Recommendations
    Introduction
    Federal or National Policy Recommendations
    State Government Policy Recommendations
    Policy Recommendation Summary
    Appendix A: Questions and Source of Data Methods
    Appendix B: FreeMind Mapping
    Appendix C: Interview Theme Sheets
    Appendix D: Telehealth Resources and Current Status
    Appendix E: Telehealth Projects in Rural Counties
    Appendix F: Survey Information and Instructions

    References

    Index

    Biography

    CJ Rhoads