Why People with COVID Lose Their Sense of Smell

TELEHEALTH IN MEDICARE: HERE TO STAY?

Telehealth services and the technologies needed for such procedures are nothing new. They were already in progress and en route to being widely accepted before the start of this year and the COVID-19 public health emergency. However, due to the PHE, telehealth became the premier source of care - being widely accepted and, in many cases, the only avenue through which medical attention could be accessed. As we have no real way of knowing the PHE’s end, there is no approaching end date for telehealth and its services. Not to mention, with its proven track record thus far, it may very well become the preferred method of care for many patients. Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, especially.

While telehealth will never replace the gold-standard of an in-person doctor’s visit, it serves as an important addition to access. Its rapid explosion in recent months has raised the question of whether returning to the status quo will turn back the clock on innovation and a new level of care. Remote patient monitoring (RPM) is one such innovation under question should Medicare revert to pre-pandemic telehealth service limitations.

T E L E H E A L T H I N M E D I C A R E : W H A T I S R P M , A N D W H Y I S I T T H E B A C K B O N E O F T E L E H E A L T H ?

Remote patient monitoring (RPM) is a delivery method for healthcare that uses the most advanced technologies to gather and analyze patient data, which is then used to develop and manage a treatment plan tailormade or related to a chronic illness or health condition. RPM is about moving conventional healthcare delivery outside of the box for better patient care and outcomes.

These technologies are the latest and greatest, emphasizing today’s consumer-friendly personal tech items. Leveraging Bluetooth and smartphones or tablets, these data collection devices are used specifically to make patients comfortable monitoring and aiding in their own care. As a result of this comfort, engagement levels between patients, their monitoring devices, and ultimately the doctor are increased.

Naturally, higher engagement levels correlate to improving the overall quality of care. Not only is the patient incentivized to be involved in his or her own health due to the comfort of quality RPM devices, but clinicians are equally better equipped to understand and manage their patients’ health situations. This is extremely important in the prevention of deteriorating health or worsening conditions.

RPM is the backbone of Telehealth because it enables clinicians to actually see what their patients are doing daily. Never before has this level of care been accessible to the public.

In conclusion, without the advances of technology, especially in the medical field, the COVID-19 virus would be able to spread much faster and further like the H1N1 Influenza Pandemic of 1918 where social distancing wasn’t a thing between doctors and their patients nor even in medical wards. 50 million people are estimated to have perished just a hundred years ago from a similar virus compared to the 1.14 million people who have died from COVID-19. No one should ever die from a horrible disease and our hearts go out to all those suffering from COVID-19 (it has touched our own office as well). It is our dream at Top Doctor Magazine and among the doctors, we serve to continue the exponential growth in medical advances over the past century so that mankind can be much closer to realizing a world virtually free from lifeending diseases in the not-so-distant future. As witnessed in recent months, without Telehealth - without RPM the mode of most healthcare delivery systems would have been cut off for weeks on end. With Telehealth services and RPM, where a patient can interact with their doctor via technology and have their situations monitored 24/7, it is possible to diagnose, treat, assess, and prevent. It is more convenient than conventional doctor or hospital visits. It is more accessible to the demographics of the public. And it is an essential part of limiting unnecessary exposure to the more vulnerable.