4 components that play a pivotal role in a telehealth solution, and challenges associated with setting up a telehealth practice. Requisite telehealth features Video conferencing capabilities Telehealth integration with EHRs Remote Patient Monitoring

1. REQUISITES FOR A TELEMEDICINE SOLUTION

2. 2
Overview
Healthcare needs vary, and there exist specific requirements which do not
warrant that doctor visit.
There is a better way!
Electronic communication has revolutionized interactions, gradually supple-
mented and at times replaced the need for hospital visits.
Here we pick up from our last publication, where we discussed the benefits
of a telehealth solution and how telehealth encounters are being covered by
federal, state and commercial payers. Now we look at the 4 components that
play a pivotal role in a telehealth solution, and challenges associated with
setting up a telehealth practice.
The 4 essential components discussed in this paper:
1. Requisite telehealth features
2. Video conferencing capabilities
3. Telehealth integration with EHRs
4. Remote Patient Monitoring
Requisites of a Telehealth Solution

3. 3
Atelehealth solution can be considered as a parallel EHR. It is essential for
a telehealth solution to not only facilitate a digital video and audio exchange,
but to also allow the care giver to perform all necessary clinical actions that
would otherwise be performed during a face to face encounter. A complete end
-to-end telehealth solution is one that handles both administrative and clinical
functionalities.
ADMINISTRATIVE
Any consultation requires a patient and the clinical staff to go through an ad-
ministrative process, and the same is applicable to telehealth consultations also.
However, telehealth, being completely virtual, requires some innovative con-
cepts for implementing conventional administrative processes.
Telehealth
Solution—
Features
Scheduler
2 ways to schedule
1. Integrate with existing EHR sched-
uler
2. Sync telehealth appointments with
EHR through a bi-directional interface
Provider Search
Open up choices
Choose a provider who is available in
the instant suiting their specific re-
quirements
Virtual Waiting Rooms
Patient handling requires an intuitive
and innovative design approach
Health Resources and Services Admin-
istration (HRSA’s) eligibility analyzer
to be incorporated
Consent Forms
Certain state Medicaids made consent
forms mandatory
Implementation of digital signatures,
content management and reminder
functionality required
Digital Forms
Essential component of telehealth in-
teractions
Capture chief complaint, current medi-
cations, allergies etc.
Payment Gateway
Most telehealth scenarios see pay out
of pocket
Integration with payment gateways is
essential
Requisites of a Telehealth Solution

4. 4
CLINICAL
Even though a telehealth solution would not act as an independent EHR by it-
self, it needs to have certain basic clinical functions which would allow a provid-
er to assess a patient and record the encounter.
Visit Notes: A SOAP note is the most common and essential feature for a clinical technol-
ogy solution. Telehealth technology should allow a provider to record subjective infor-
mation, capture and/or record objective data and create a plan of treatment. An en-
counter note that is consistent with the ones available in EHRs would amplify provider
adoption of telehealth solutions.
Capturing objective data: Remote patient monitoring which is considered as a form of
telehealth plays a vital role in remote consultations. Patients can capture their blood
pressure, weight, blood sugar, and other such vitals at the originating site and without
any manual intervention can transmit all the data to the provider miles away; this is a
feature a telehealth solution ought to have. This should be displayed in the correct for-
mat in a SOAP note to streamline processes.
Codification: Telehealth solution should have the capability to record problems, proce-
dures and other subjective information using required clinical terminology (SNOMED ICD-
10, HCPCS, CPT-4). This allows for accurate documentation and aids integration.
Requisites of a Telehealth Solution

5. 5
A b o u t N a l a s h a a
Nalashaa believes in simple solutions to derive meaningful insights and in exceeding
your expectations. Our clarity of thought has earned us many laurels in this fast paced
world where healthcare technology advancements are rolling out continuously.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
NISARG KHANDEKAR, HEALTHCARE CONSULTANT
Nisarg has worked on a variety of healthcare IT products and has helped medical pro-
fessionals by understanding their pain points and assisting them adapt to the rapidly
changing healthcare IT spectrum, for almost half a decade. Experienced in Meaning-
ful Use and ONC HIT certification processes, he currently holds a keen interest in
understanding how analytics and population health management areas are shaping up.
Requisites of a Telehealth Solution
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